Q ^ 



^( 



Historical Address 



DELIVERED BY 



Rey. EDWARD A. CHASE 



Centennial Celebration 



Congre^attonaf C^uxc^ 



HAMPDEN, MASS. 



Novemher 18, 1885 



Historical Address 



DELIVERED BY 



Kev. EDWARD A. CHASE 



Centennial Celebration 



OP THE 



HAMPDEN, MASS. 



November 18, 1885 



HARTFORD, CONN, 
prees of Ube Case, locftvpoob &. S5ra(nar6 Company 

1898 






30971 



m 




PBEFATOEY I^OTE. 



*T T becomes my duty and my pleasure to acknowledge my 
obligation to those who have lielped furnish materials for 
this address. Particularly am I indebted to the " History 
of Wilbraham," by Dr. Stebbins, for the earlier portions of the 
town history ; also to Mr. Jonathan F, Morris of Hartford, 
Conn., for facts bearing upon the earlier days of the parish. 
The obligation extends to the pages of The Religious Intelli- 
gencer, vol. 7, for a large share of the account of the revival 
under Mr. Nettleton. I should have been glad always to have 
indicated their help by quotation marks on the page, had it 
not been that my own researches were so intermingled as to 
render it not always possible so to do. It has seemed better 
to acknowledge the debt in this place once and for all. 

Edward A. Chase. 



'T T was the desire and expectation of many at the time when 
the address of Mr. Chase was given that it would soon be 
published. The publication, however, was delayed for the 
purpose of gathering the other addresses made on that occasion, 
some of which contained very interesting reminiscences. The 
collection of those addresses failed, and time has gone on 
without any further attempt to obtain them. After the lapse 
of so many years the publishers interested in the history of 
the church of their fathers, and believing that there was much 
in the address worthy of preservation, have ventured to 
publish it, the manuscript having come into the possession 
of Mr. West. Some notes have been added containing matter 
which did not come within the knowledge or reach of Mr. 
Chase. 

Brief genealogies of the families connected with the 
church when Mr. Warren was ordained, have also been added 
so far as they could be obtained. 

John West, 
Jonathan F. Morris. 
Sj)ringfield and Hartford, 
March, 1898. 



]T7he movement for the centennial of the Congregational 
•"^ ^ Church in Hampden, which was celehrated November 
18, 1885, was begun in the month of January previous. 
The centennial exercises held in the church began at 10 
o'clock, A. M. The church was tastefully ornamented for 
the occasion, with plants and evergreen. Dr. George T. 
Ballard was president of the day. The exercises began with 
a selection by the choir, after which came prayer and reading 
of the scriptures. A hymn was sung by the whole congrega- 
tion, following which Deacon A. B. Newell made a brief 
address of welcome. The programme was as follows : 

1785 1885 

First Congregational Church 

of hampden. 

One Hlndreth Anniversary, 

wefnesday, november 18, 

At 10 o'clock, A. M. 

1785 1885 



ORDER OF EXERCISES. 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 
I. Music — 10 o'clock, a. m. 
II. Reading op Scriptures. 

III. Prater. 

IV. Hymn. 

V. Address op Welcome. 
VI. Hymn. 

VII. Historical Address. 
VIII. Hymn. 

Intermission and Collation. 

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 
I. Music. 
11. Addresses by Former Pastors. 

III. Hymn. 

IV. Addresses by Invited Guests. 
V. Hymn, 

VI. Celebration of the Lord's Supper. 
VII. Benediction. 

Social Reunion in the Evening. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



It is strange liow life destroys some of our ideas. 

I had been A\'ont to think of yonth as a time for looking into 
the future rather than into tlie past; a time of imagination 
i-ather than for the discussion of plain everyday facts, — and 
yet I find myself to-day placed to recall for. yon the events of 
tlie past century of your church life; surely the theme de- 
mands a longer memory, a better judgment, a readier pen 
than mine, — yet that which I have I gladly bring to your ser- 
vice. 

The day is one of thanksgiving and congratulation. 
Thanks to God, who, by His wisdom, has directed the church 
through the eventful century; thanks to Him as the faithful 
promisor, -who, in all this time, has fulfilled his word for the 
field, and thereby has sustained the life of the people; thanks 
to Him as the loving Father who has crowned our homes with 
their love and precious sympathy. 

A day of congratulation to you, for your steadfast faith 
and that of your fathers, 

"Men whose hands were brown with toil, 
Who backed by no ancestral graves, 
Hewed down the wood and tilled the soil ; 
And thereby won a prouder fame, 
Than follows a king's or a warrior's name," 

men who, in the scantiness of their profit, found enough for 
themselves and the Lord, too, and by their noble work made 
possible the blessings of to-day. 

The chief value of such historic looking back is, I conceive, 
to get motive for future work. It is true in our daily lives, 
whatever be their specific labor, that yesterday conditions to- 
day, and to-day to-morrow, in its wisdom and efficiency of toil. 
So is it in our church life; the successes of the past, and the 
failures as well, may be to us wise instructors. And these 
very successes make it the more incumbent on us that we do 
well for the Master. 



8 lIIsroiilCAT, ADDRESS 

1 like the saying of oui- f^tatesman that " life is neither 
pain nor pleasure, but serious business, to be entered upon with 
courage and ended with the spirit of self-sacrifice." And I 
would make that " serious business," cost what it may, the 
establishing of the kingdom of Christ in the world — which 
your fathers sought to do, in their own hearts first, and then 
in the hearts of their fellows. Their work has now fallen to 
us, — God give us to do it well. 

T^et us come, then, to our subject to-day with a feeling of 
real gratitude to God; of rejoicing in the success attained; and 
with the desire to get wisdom and renewed courage for the toil 
of the future. 

The historian of the town of Wilbraham has so fully told 
the story of its ci^•ic life that a detailed account of its early 
days becomes unnecessary on my part. Yet because the civic 
and the church life of those first years are inextricably inter- 
woven, and to the end that the address of to-day may have a 
completeness of its own, it becomes unavoidable to walk in 
paths already trodden, and to say as briefly as the best under- 
standing of the history permits, some things not unfamiliar 
to you. 

In the seventeenth century the town of Springfield in- 
cluded territory from the mountains on her north to the south 
line of the present Enfield, and from Russell on the west to 
]\Ionson on the east. 

Of course, all this territory was not inhabited, part of it 
had not even been appropriated to the inhabitants of Spring- 
field. This unappropriated land, a part, of which lay on the 
east and a part on the west of the Connecticut River, was 
known as the " Outward Commons." Wlien Andros, gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts, threatened to take away the charter of 
the colony, in order that these commons might not revert to 
the crown of England, the to\vTi of Springfield voted to make 
the land the property of its individual inhabitants. A certain 
amount was reserved for the ministrv and schools, and the rest 
was alloted in the following way: all the land was divided into 
five sections ; each of the legal citizens, including one " Glover 
the teacher," received some part of all five sections, the propor- 
tion of each being according to the value of his estate and the 
number of his male children. It was found that when the 
land was surveved in 1729 onlv sixteen feet Were allowed to 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



9 



the rod, so that on the south side of the third division there re- 
mained unappropriated a strip of land sixty-two rods wide and 
four miles long. This received the name of " overplus laud." 
It was within the limits of our present town, and became the 
farm of the man who built the frame of the first meeting- 
house, whose name will appear later on. 

Of these " outward commons " thus alloted, the third sec- 
tion and a large part of the second, with their " overplus " land, 
became afterwards the town of AVilbraham, of which, until 
recently, we have been the South Parish. 

The real history of Wilbraham commenced in the North 
Parish, afterwards so called, ten years before our own. It be- 
gan with IsTathaniel Hitchcock, who settled in 1730, followed 
wdthin the next four years by Noah Alford, Daniel Warner, 
and Nathaniel Warriner. 

At the close of ten years the settlement consisted of twenty- 
six families, living in houses framed but " poorly finished, 
scantily glazed, and meagerly furnished." Their business was 
farming, their toil was severe, their hardships and incon- 
veniences a great many, but their reward large enough to make 
them persevere. 

In the year 1741 the " outward commons " were incor- 
porated into the Pourth Parish of Springfield for the support 
of a minister. In this year, in the spring, the South Parish, 
afterwards so called, began its history by the coming of one 
Stephen Stebbins from Longmeadow. He settled near the 
north bank of the Scantic, where Mr. Mortimer Pease now 
lives. The house he built was moved nearly a century ago, 
and now is used as a barn on the place owned by IMi-s. Pliny 
Allen, and used as a hotel. Some of the boards of that house 
may be seen on the north side of the barn to-day. Aaron 
Stebbins, his brother, built north of him, on the place where 
Mr. Wall now resides, just north of the schoolhouse. Paul 
Langdon, who brought the first fom^-wheeled wagon into the 
place, in which he moved his worldly goods from Salem to 
Hopkinton, from there to Union, and from Union to South 
Wilbraham, settled south of Stephen Stebbins, on the farm 
now occupied by Edward Bartlett. This farm was the " over- 
plus " land of wliich mention was made, and Mr. Langdon ob- 
tained it through the aid of Mr. Pynchon, by getting those 
whose farms lay adjacent to it to sign off any right they might 
2 



10 IIISTORTCAL ADDRESS 

claim in it. Abner Cliapiu from Cliicopee settled south of the 
Scantic, where Silas Chapin and the widow of Ralph S. Chapin 
now reside, the farms being separated by the road. 

Lewis Lang-don, son of Paul, built the first sawmill in town 
in 1750. It stood on the south side of the present road, a little 
east of Ravine Mill, and some remains of its timbers ai'e yet 
to be seen. 

Another early settler was William King, who built on the 
spot on which this present church stands. His was a lean-to 
house, the back running to the ground. It afterwards passed 
into the hands of Robert Sessions, and the old frame is, I sup- 
pose, that of the house occupied by Mr. Whittaker, the second 
below the church. 

WilKam Stacy from Salem settled on the mountain south 
of the Scantic, where Albert Lee now resides; Moses Stebbins 
where S. T. Ballard now lives; Comfort Chaffee on the place 
afterwards owned by William Chaffee, where Homer Lee now 
resides. There was also Jabez Hendrick, who settled on the 
place now owned by John Whittaker, a house now unoccupied, 
situated off in the fields. Upon the hills was Daniel Car- 
penter, where James L. Weeks now lives, and besides these, 
Henry Badger, Isaac Morris, Rowland Crocker, Benjamin 
Skinner, and Ezekiel Russell, the last named settling where 
Daniel Flynn now lives. 

We see that many of the first settlers kept along the line 
of the water, and so we may suppose that as the settlement 
grew it increased along the line of what is now the main street 
of the village. The same thing occurred in the south part of 
the town that had taken place in- the north; as the inhabitants 
increased they felt the desire to have a preaching service in 
their own midst. It was a long way to the meeting-house, the 
roads were poor, the means of conveyance not the most com- 
fortable. AVe, therefore, find that in 1765, twenty-four years 
after the coming of Stephen Stebbins, the people here asked 
the town for money to support preaching during the winter; 
this was refused. Their next move was in 1767, when they 
endeavored to gain at town meeting, in December, the privilege 
of having preaching during " two months in the Winter season 
upon their own cost " ; this was also denied them. But 
whether in this offer to pay for their own preaching the people 
here desired to be let off from their tithes at the north meeting- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



11 



house I am not able to find out. The people were not willing 
to be denied their request, and in order to accomplish their ob- 
ject, five years later they asked to be made a separate town. 
* S'ote " A." This did not work, either, until, in 1778, after 
several adjourned meetings, it was voted to divide the town 
into two parishes. This vote was reconsidered, but in 1780 
the people made an appeal to be a separate parish on both town 
and general court. In 1781, at the town meeting of Decem- 
ber 24th, a committee from out of town was chosen to consider 
the method of dividing the town into panshes. This commit- 
tee consisted of John Hale, Luke Bliss, and William Pynchon, 
Jr. Thev rendered their report, dated Springfield, February 
21,1782." It was as follows: 

" We have taken into our deliberate consideration the 
several matters you, by your committee, thought fit to lay be- 
fore us, which has brought us to a detennination that some 
division of your town is necessary, concerning the manner of 
which you have been pleased to refer yourselves to us for aid 
and advice. Our opinion you have in the follo^ving report. 
The committee consider it a gTeat unhappiness that a town so 
respectable as the town of Wilbraham is should, in the man- 
agement of their publick affairs, suffer such animosities to arise 
amongst them as to have any tendency to prevent the general 
benefits and advantages that might otherwise arise to them, by 
inculcating those generous sentiments of love and esteem, 
Avhich is so essential to the well-being of every society. 
AVliether by the local, situation of the inhabitants of the 
several parts of said toym, or whether by the real or supposed 
indiscretion of any persons, in the amicable management of 
your publick affairs make it expedient that a Division should 
take place amongst us, we pretend not to say. 

" Though the manner of it seems only to be referred to us, 
yet we conceive it may not be improper for us to declare our 
concurrance in sentiment with you, that some division is be- 
come necessary : Touching the mode of it and how it shall be 
made — It is the united opinion of the committee and which 
they conceive will best accommodate the inhabitants of the 
several parts of the town, that it be divided into two parishes, 
by the name of the IN'orth and South Parishes, by a line coincid- 
ing with the south line of the lot whereon ISTathaniel Bliss 
deceased lived, from the westward bound of said town to the 



12 HISIOKMCAI. A1)I)I!KSS 

Monson line : — (with this exception) that the inhabitants of 
said town living -on the west from the top of the moun- 
tain to the south side of Lieut. Thomas Merrick's lot to 
the westward bounds of said to^vn with their estates, be 
annexed to the North Parish and that the inhabitants living 
east from the top of the mountain from the said south side of 
sd Bliss's lot north to the south side of Lot originally laid out 
to Jonathan Taylors estate to Monson line, be annexed to the 
south parish with their estates, if each or any of said in- 
habitants should choose so to do they making their choice 

previous to said parish being incorporated, and they thus 
choosing to be annexed to the respective Parishes forever. 

" And that each part of said town have and enjoy equal 
parts of the land sequestered for the use of the ministry, or 
monies or securities for money that may be in the treasury — 
the proceeds of the sale of said lands or any other money or 
security for money or donation for the support of the gospel, 
be and remain to each parish in equal parts. 

" And the Meeting house standing in the north part of said 
town be and belong to the north parish so long as they continue 
to meet in it for the publick worship of God. 

" Should that love and union take place which your com- 
mittee earnestly recommend and which is so essentially to the 
well being of every society, they are of opinion that said house 
be and remain for the use of the wdiole of said town for the pur- 
pose of carrying on their meeting in future. 

" We sincerely Avish that love and harmony may again take 
place amongst you, that we may have the satisfaction of know- 
ing that our poor endeavors have in some measure contributed 
toward the effecting an event so important. 

" We are, gentlemen, with sentiments of love and esteem, 
your friends and humble servants." 

In accord with this report of advice a committee of the 
town was chosen, and over the signatures of Moses Stebbins, 
Enoch Burt, and Philip Lyon, this petition was sent to the 
Legislature: 

CoMlMONWEALTn OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

" To the Honorable Senate iSc House of Representatives in 
General Court Assembled — 
" The petition of the inhabitants of Wilbraham — Humbly 
sheweth — That whereas it is of great importance that we 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



13 



constantly attend upon the preaching of the gospel, and as by 
the annexing of Wales to the sontli part of said town the 
present ineeting-honse is mncli out of the center, and by the 
blessing of heaven we are so multiplied that the attendance 
upon the preaching of the gospel is rendered very difficult, and 
almost impossible for gTeat numbers, to attend on a preached 
gospel and whereas there is at present no settled minister in 
said town and as the wants of a division of said town, will prob- 
ably if not inevitably prevent the settlement of one, to the real 
hurt of said town — We are humbly of opinion that it is an op- 
portune season to have said to^vn divided — and as we hope 
we are able to support two ministers and as nature has seemed 
to form us for two parishes being near nine miles north and 
south, and four miles and a half east and west — We the sub- 
scribers therefore (in behalf of this town) Petition by the 
name of the North and South Parishes your honors to incor- 
porate this town into two parishes — by a line coinciding with 
the south line of the lot whereon E^athaniel Bliss deceased 
lived, from the westward bounds of said town to the Monson 
line : — (with this exception) that the inhabitants of said 
toAvn living on the west from the top of the mountain to the 
south side of Lieut. Thos. Merricks lot to the westward bounds 
of said town with their estates be annexed to the north parish 
and that the inhabitants living on the east from the top of the 
mountain from said south side of said Bliss's lot north to the 
south side of the lot originally laid out to Jonathan Taylor's 
estate to Monson line be annexed to the South Parish "with 
their estates, if each or any of said inhabitants should choose so 
to do — They making their choice previous to said parish 
being incorporated, and they thus choosing, to be annexed to 
the respective parishes forever — 

" And that each part of said town have and enjoy equal 
parts of the land sequestered for the use of the ministry, or the 
money or for seciirities for monev that may be in the Treasuiy, 
the proceeds of the sale of said land or any other money or 
security for money or donation for the support of the gospel, 
be and remain to each parish in equal parts. And the meet- 
ing-house standing in the I^^orth part of said to^m be and be- 
long to the north parish so long as they continue to meet in it 
for the publick worship of God. 

" This petition for the substance of it is agreeable to a re- 



14 iriSTOKICAL ADDKESS 

port of a committee unanimously chosen by this town ... to 
advise this town in wliat manner to be divided, which report 
was accepted by a vote of the town at a legal town meeting, 
April 5, 1782 — and at the same meeting we the subscribers 
were chosen a committee to refer the above Petition to your 
honors to take into serious consideration and act thereupon as 
you in your wisdom shall think best — as in duty bound we 
ever pray. 

'" P. S. We pray your honors to annex Lt. Thomas Mer- 
rick with his estate to the ISTorth Parish, he having made his 
choice so to be. Also Mr. Da^dd Wood to the South Parish 
with his estate He having likewise made his choice so to be. 
Or any other of said inhabitants included in said committee's 
report, they signifying their choice to your honors before the 
incorporation of said parishes." 

The petition was granted and an act of incorporation issued 
June 20, 1782. It ran as follows: 

" Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the year of our 
Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. An act for 
dividing the town of Wilbraham into two separate parishes. 

" Whereas for the greater convenience of attending the 
publick worship of God, it is found necessary to divide the 
town of Wilbraham into two separate parishes, be it enacted 
by the Senate and House of Representatives in general Court 
assembled and by the authority 6f the same that the said town 
of Wilbraham be and the same is hereby divided into two 
separate parishes by the names of the North Parish and the 
South Parish by a line coinciding with the south of the lot 
whereon JSTathaniell Bliss deceased lately lived, from the 
west bounds of said town to Monson line — and the said 
parishes above mentioned and each of them be and hereby 
are severally invested with all the powers rights and 
privileges wdiich parishes in this commonwealth are by law 
invested with — and be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid that Mr. Thomas Memck with his lands and 
estates be and hereby is annexed to the ISTorth Parish 
above mentioned and David Wood, Jesse Carpenter and 
Jonah Beebe with their lands and other estates be and 
they hereby are annexed to the South Parish in the said 
town, anything in this act to the contrary notA^dthstanding 
— And be it further enacted that each of the parishes afore- 



HISTOKICAL ADDRESS 



15 



said shall have and enjoy in equal shares the lands heretofore 
sequestered devised or given for the use or support of the min- 
istry and the monies or securities for money that may be in 
the treasury, and as well the proceeds of the sale of lands, as 
any other monies or securities for money that have been given 
to the inhabitants of the said town for the support of the gos- 
pel. And be it further enacted — that the inhabitants of the 
JSTorth Parish aforesaid shall have a right to improve the meet- 
ing house now standing in the said parish for the purpose of 
Public Worship so long as they shall think proper so to im- 
prove it. 

" And be it further enacted that John Bliss Esq. be and 
hereby is empowered to issue his warrants to some principal 
inhabitants of each of the said parishes requiring them to warn 
the inhabitants of the parishes to which they respectively be- 
long to meet at such time and place in each of the said parishes 
as by such warrants shall be duly specified and then choose 
such officers as may be necessary to manage the affairs of the 
said parishes. And the inhabitants qualified by law to vote 
being so assembled shall be and hereby are impowered to 
choose such officers in their respective parishes accordingly." 

]!*Tow that they had gained the desired end, what means had 
they to support preaching? In 1780, January 10th, Nathaniel 
Waniner, a deacon of the old church, died. Having no chil- 
dren, he gave by his mil four hundred pounds, " To be the 
one-half given to the support of a gospel ministry, provided 
that all other churches which are or may be in this town of a 
different constitution from the standing order of churches in 
this land shall forever be excluded from receiving any benefit 
from the same." 

By the act which divided the town, as we have seen, each 
of the parishes was to have and enjoy in equal shares the 
monies or securities for money given to the inhabitants for 
the support of the gospel. The gift of Mr. Warriner and other 
funds were, therefore, divided, and seven hundred and fifty 
dollars was given to this South Parish. 

On the green yonder, in those early days, stood some large 
oak trees, and under those trees the first preaching was held. 
In cold weather the services were conducted in private houses. 
The frame of the first meeting-house was built by Paul Lang- 
don, and was raised in June, 1783. The building stood on the 



16 IITSTOKU'AL ADDRESS 

green and faced to the west. It was but a poor affair, yet was 
it none tlie less the House of God, the rallying point of the 
people, their place of spiritual comfort. 

*■ They tell us that for many years it was unpainted, wdtli no 
pews, but only rough boards for seats, and a rude box for a 
pulpit. The timbers of the w^alls and roof were all exposed, 
and became the nesting places of birds. 

The first parish treasurer was Colonel Bliss, who served 
from 1782 till 1784, when he was succeeded by David Burt. * 

On March 12, 1784, the parish was assessed £50 13s. 6d. 
for hiring preaching. * Note " B." August 2, 1784, the 
parish committee drew an order on Treasurer Burt for £6 6s. in 
favor of Capt. Paul Langdon and Lieut. Samuel Sexton, " to 
enable them to pay Mr. Smith, for preaching with us last win- 
ter." March 28, 1785, it was voted to Capt. Paul Langdon 8s. 
6d. " for going to Westford after Rev. Mr. Hutchinson." It 
was in this year, 1785, that the church was organized. It is 
strange, indeed, that no record of the month or day remains; 
but the most careful search has failed to reveal it. "What min- 
isters helped in its organization we do not know; there was at 
the time no minister in the north parish, for Mr. Merrick was 
dead and Mr. Willard was not called imtil 1787. 

Fortunately, the " Form of Union " under which the 
people bound themselves together has been preserved to us — 
copied by the first pastor into the book kept by him, from some 
records (as I suppose) accessible to him, but now lost. It reads 
as follows: 

" We the subscribers, do hereby covenant with God and 
each other as a particular visible church of Christ, to be come 
organized by this act and to enjoy all the ordinances of worship 
and discipline, w^hich our Lord Jesus Christ hath appointed to 
have observed in his church to the end of the world. We give 
up ourselves to the Lord Jehovah, the one only living and true 
God, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
equal in power and glory. We solemnly avouch the Lord 
Jehovah to be our God and the God of our children, and agree- 
able to this covenant we dedicate them to God in baptism, and 
engage to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord. 



* Stephen West succeeded Mr. Burt. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



17 



" We believe that the scriptures of the Old and new testa- 
ments are the word of God and that they are our only rule of 
faith and practice. 

" We bind ourselves by this covenant to observe the special 
ordinances of the New Testament, the sacraments of baptism 
and the Lord's supper, and all the other commands and 
ordinances of the Lord revealed to us in His holy word and to 
submit ourselves to the government and discipline of Christ in 
his church. 

" We give up ourselves to one another in the Lord firmly 
covenanting and binding ourselves to walk together as a Con- 
gregational church of Christ, and resolve by divine grace 
assisting to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are 
called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suft'ering, 
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity 
of the spii'it in the bond of peace. 

" And whereas our great redeemer hath by His ascention, 
among other gifts, purchased and given that of pastors and 
teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ,— r we en- 
gage to aid and stand by an orthodox and regular and Godly 
ministry, which may at any time be set over us, according to 
our place and power, and with their joint concurrence will up- 
hold the impartial administration of all Gods Holy Ordinances 
in this church. 

" Finally, we desire to maintain a constant sense of our 
manifold unworthiness of the great privileges and blessing of 
the Covenant of Grace, to walk humbly with God and fervently 
to supplicate His Gracious Presence with us. 

" That the God of peace who brought again from the dead 
our Lord Jesus Christ that great shepherd of the sheep through 
the blood of the everlasting covenant may make us perfect 
in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is 
well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be 
glory forever and ever, Amen." 

From its organization in 1785 until the call of Mr. Warren, 
the church was supplied by different ministers. Among the 
papers of Mr. Bliss it is recorded that on May 1, 1786, Enoch 
Burt and Moses Stebbins, Jr., " ministerial committee," cer- 
tified to the parish committee that they had employed Mr. 
Abishai Colton " candidate preacher to preach with us a fast 
3 



18 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

and four sabbaths at four dollars per day amounting in tbe 
Avhole to SLx£." March 28, 1786, the parish voted 6s. to Capt. 
I*aul Langdon and J^iout. Samuel Sexton " for carrying grains 
to Springfield in pay for preaching." April 9, 1786, 3s. 
were voted to Saml. Sexton " for going after preacher." No- 
vember 10, 1786, the parish voted £10 "• for glazing the 
lower part of the meeting house, also 20£ to hire preaching." 
April 9, 1787, Moses Stebbins, Jr., was voted 9s. 5d. " for 
going after preacher," and to Saml. Sexton 3s. for the same 
purpose. November 30, 1787, the parish voted £20 " to 
hire preaching." Januai-y 15, 1788, Saml. Sexton, Enoch 
Burt, and Moses Stebbins, Jr., " ministerial committee," cer- 
tified to the committee and assessor of the parish that they 
had hired preaching, namely, Mr. Ebenezer Kingsbury two 
sabbaths, Mr. Lathrop Thompson ten sabbaths, at £1 5s. per 
sabbath, amounting to £14 8s. March 12, 1788, the min- 
isterial committee certified that " Moses Stebbins, Jr., had paid 
Mr. Thompson for preaching £1. 2s.," which he should be paid 
out of the parish treasury. This is the last record w^e have be- 
fore th^ coming of Mr. Warren. 

Here then ends our first period. It has been one of in- 
tense effort. In it the sturdy pioneer has broken the fields ; has 
felled the trees of the forest ; has built himself the mill whereby 
to saw the boards to build his house and barn ; has asserted his 
independence, liis determination to have and protect his own 
rights ; has built for himself a fane of prayer, wherein he has 
worshiped the God whom he believes the maker and guide of 
his life. 

Herein the history of the South Parish has begun, and the 
home life, the industrial life, and the Church life of the cen- 
tury are foreshadowed. 

II. 

Now that the people had a meeting-house, a membership 
of sixty-five, and a fund of money, their next thought was for a 
settled minister. Near the beginning of the year 1788 a 
young man preached in the old meeting-house on yonder 
green. I am not so far away from the starting point but I 
can mySelf imagine something of the young man's feeling. 
Coming, as he did, from a church of longer settlement, the 
house itself must have strongly impressed him, I do not 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



19 



mean awakened in liim a feeling of pride because of the rude 
surroundings, but, on the contrary, the building with its un- 
finished walls, its slab seats, its upper ungiassed windows, its 
box pulpit, its roof open in many places to the sky, all this 
must have made the young man, as he stood to proclaim the 
word of the Lord, feel the spiritual realness of the God he 
preached, who, Himself all beautiful and the maker of earth's 
beauty, could yet be truly worshiped in so unadorned a place, 
must have made him feel the devotion of this people to their 
God, because they were determined to have in their midst some 
house dedicated to His service. 

In the front seat, before the preacher, probably sat Enoch 
Burt and John Hitchcock, for they were the first deacons. 
Somewhere in the audience would be Colonel John Bliss, a 
man of affairs; William King, a man of large property; Paul 
Langdon, an old soldier of the Revolution, now a prominent 
man in the church and town. The audience was a sturdy one, 
not to be pleased with anything less than sound truth. The 
young man seems to have won their favor, for on April 18, 
1788, the parish voted " to give Mr. Warren a call tp settle 
with us in the work of the gospel ministiy " — in favor of the 
call 5^, against 7. 

At the same time it was voted to give Mr. Warren as an 
encouragement to settle £150; £100 to be paid in one year and 
the remaining £50 within two years from the time of his set- 
tling, — 45 votes in favor with 10 against. They also voted 
him a salary of £70 yearly, with twenty-four cords of wood 
each year. Three months after this, on July 14th, the vote 
was changed in regard to the salary. The parish now decided 
to " pay Mr. AVarren from the time of his settlement to the 
first Monday in February, 1789, in the following articles, — 
Wheat, Rye, Indian Corn, Oats, Wool or Flax at the currant 
market price of those articles at that time ; and the one-half of 
his salary ever after to be paid in the above articles on the first 
Monday of February of each year at the current market price 
at the time of payment." The parish further pledged itself, 
in ease Mr. Warren should purchase a settlement, to become 
obligated " by a committee or by some other way they should 
adopt " to the person of whom he purchased to the value of 
£150 as voted on the iSth day of April. 

A committee of three — Deacon John Hitchcock, John 



20 HISTOKTCAL ADDRESS 

Bliss, Esq., and Lieutenant Samuel Sexton • — was chosen to 
acquaint Mr. Warren with the call of the church, the settle- 
ment fund, and the salary. 

There is no church record of the ordination services. 
Record remains, however, in the handwriting of Mr. Warren, 
of the ministers invited, as also his letter accepting the call. 
Tradition tells where the dinner was held, and a manuscript 
history of churches has preserved the name of the preacher 
and the text of the sennon. Using these things, with some 
pei-sonal facts, for our data, for the sake of the picture let us 
suppose those arrived who were invited, and imagine the coun- 
cil convened. It is called to order, the moderator and scribe 
chosen, and prayer for God's guidance offered. The doings 
of the parish are called for, and Moses Stebbins, Jr., the clerk, 
comes forward and reads the vote which we have already con- 
sidered. The moderator now asks for Mr. Warren's reply to 
their offers, and Mr. Stebbins reads this letter: 

" To the Church and Society in the South Parisli of Wil- 
braham. 

" Brethren and Friends: I have taken into serious con- 
sideration the invitation which you gave me to settle with you 
in the work of the Gospel Ministry. The proceedings of your 
meetings have been laid before me by your committee. And 
looking up to heaven for direction I have endeavored im- 
partially to attend to the argaiments for and against my settle- 
ing. I have considered your circumstances as a union, have 
attended to the proposals you made for my temporal suy)port ; 
and to the prospect of my being useful among you. Giving 
all the arguments their just weight, I think at present they 
preponderate in favor of my settling. And therefore follow- 
ing as far as I know my own heart, the dictates of providence 
and duty, I now present you with my answer in the affirmative. 
Should nothing turn up altering the present apjiearance of 
things, I am now willing to proceed with you to the necessars' 
steps for ordination. 

" Brethren, you must be sensible that the work to which 
you invite me is great and arduous. You vnW allow me then 
earnestly to solicit an interest in your prayers to the great head 
of the church that should Providence tix me here as your 
watchman, I may have grace to bo faithful and ^visdom to be 
successful. Should such a connection take place, may it serve 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



21 



to promote our mutual happiness here and hereafter, and the 
advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

" All of which with suitable respects is the sincere desire 
and prayer of him who devotes himself to your service in 
Christ. Moses Warren." 

Information as to the young man's education is now de- 
sired. Rev. Elisha Fish, his former pastor, is present and 
vouches for this: that he graduated at Harvard in 1784 and 
then studied theology with him at Milford, where he was 
licensed. 

The pastor-elect is now called to give some account of his 
religious experience, and to be questioned on his doctrinal 
views. He comes forward ; a man of about thirty, slight and 
rather short, fine-grained in feature, dressed in the Continental 
garb, with long stockings and knee breeches, and wearing- 
black silk gloves. 

His testimony is that he was born in Upton, of Worcester 
County, Massachusetts. His father, Jonas Warren, was a 
deacon in the church; his mother was also a Christian. He 
was very early reminded of death and the solemn scenes of an 
eternal state. These instructions and admonitions made some 
impression on his mind even in childhood. In his youth he 
began to seek after God and entertained the hope that he be- 
come a subject of regenerating grace; and I shall not go far 
wrong, I think, learning as- I have the belief of the man in 
God's providential care, if I say he would give as reason for his 
entering the ministry the real belief that God had called and 
led him into it. His theological views are those of the ISTew 
England fathers, and thus meet the approval of the council 
assembled. 

All things being deemed satisfactory, it is decided to or- 
dain Mr. Warren to the ministry and to install him over this 
church. This was on the 2d of September, for the letter 
missive called for the coimcil to meet on this date; but the 
record of his ordination is September 3d. Therefore, T under- 
stand that the examination was on one day and the ordination 
services the next. The council, therefore, now adjourns until 
the morrow, hospitably entertained meantime by the people; 
before the cheerful open fires now passing the merry laugh, 
and now telling in turn of the ways in which God has been 
leading and blessing them. 



22 HISTOniCAL ADDEESS 

The morrow comes and the council and the people meet 
for thti, ordination services. The sermon is preached by Rev. 
Elisha Fish, Jr., of AVindsor, Mass., from the words of 
Malachi, iij 7; " For the priest's lips should keep knowledge 
and thev should seek the law at his month; for he is the mes- 
senger pf the Lord of Hosts." The seiwices are finished, and 
all adjourn for dinner to the house of Colonel Bliss on the hill 
— the place, though not the house, where Miss Caroline Mor- 
ris now lives. Tradition says there was not room enough in 
the fireplace to cook for so many, and so part of the dinner was 
prepared out of doors under the trees. The first course was 
of boiled things, then came the roasts, and, I suppose, some- 
thing in the way of liquor — just to make the turkey a little 
less dry. At last the dinner Avith its good cheer is done, the 
members of the council wish the new pastor God-speed in his 
work, the people return to their homes, and the young man, 
still unmarried, is left to lead the people by the counsels of the 
Lord into the paths of pure thought and life. * ISTote " Gr." 

It is not an easy life, that of this young minister; there 
were cases of discipline in the church which produced hard 
feelings, seeming to be necessary none the less, and which 
tended all the time to keep the church pure and to make pos- 
sible the prosperous days that came later on. 

The winter of the history of Wilbraham gives in the ap- 
pendix of his book an account of the case of the discipline of 
John Williams as one which was very foolish. It is possible 
that some evidence is available now that did not come to his 
hand, and also that the standpoint from which one looks may 
alter opinions. I believe that the church was at fault in her 
methods, but also that Mr. Williams gave offense, and that 
both learned a lesson by which they profited. The facts of 
this discipline will be interesting as a. picture of the early 
church life under Mr. Warren, and their stating necessary to 
the conclusions reached. 

On the Ttli of March, 1792, the church met to consult 
about the case of Mr. John Williams, who was propounded for 
communion. But the nimiber being small they adjourned to 
the 14th. On this latter date, " difficulties being so far re- 
moved, they voted to invite Mr. Williams to come forward and 
offer himself to their communion." On the 4th of April the 
church were desired to stop after the service, at which time 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



23 



Mr. Williams " vokmtarily exhibited a confession for speak- 
ing unadvisedly at a certain time and place, ' By George, bring 
liim along.' " He had been accused publicly of profaning 
the name of God, which he denied he did. The church came 
to no vote, but chose a committee "" to inquire into the dif- 
ficulty, to obtain what light they could upon the subject, and 
to report to the church." April 17th tliis committee reported 
in such manner, that a committee of two was appointed " to 
bring forward a complaint against Brother Williams." Mr. 
Williams was served with a copy of the same. April 28tli the 
complaint was read before the church, to which Mr. Williams 
pleaded not guilty. Three witnesses were brought forward; 
two of them " positively asserted " that Brother Williams said 
" By God." The third " was not so confident, but rather 
thought he did." In behalf of Mr. Williams, one mtness 
testified he heard only the word " By." A second said he 
" positively knew " it was " By George." The church voted 
the complaint sustained, and Brother Williams was suspended 
till such time as he should make satisfaction. Mr. Williams 
was not content with this, and a mutual council was called. 
This council stated as its opinion " that they did not consider 
the charge against him supported in manner and form as al- 
leged in the complaint." But the council proceeded to ad- 
monish Brother Williams '' to take special heed to his ways 
in the future that he offend not with his tongue." The 
council also regretted that the church had not pressed the 
steps with Brother AVilliams pointed out in the eighteenth 
chapter of Matthew, and advised that the church consider Mr. 
Williams' submission to their verdict ground for his restora- 
tion. Some desired it be defen-ed for a season, but at length 
concluded to restore Mr. AVilliams. 

l^early four weeks later the church met and reconsidered 
its vote in accepting and approving the result of the council, 
and voted to offer him the choice of another mutual council. 
Mr. Williams, grieved and uneasy in his situation, desired 
that the grievance might be laid before the association for their 
advice. This the church refused to do, but voted they would 
unite with him in the choice of a mutual council if he desired 
it. This he declined. 

A committee consisting of John Bliss, Samuel Sexton, and 
Calvin Stebbins was chosen to confer with Brother Williams 



24 IIISTOKIOAL ADDRESS 

" to see if some method could not be adopted to heal the un- 
happy breach." This committee could effect nothing. At 
this time Deacon Hitchcock desired a dismission from the 
office of deacon, because '' he was advanced in life and also on 
account of some present circumstances." By " present cir- 
cumstances " he meant the report Colonel Bliss made to an 
ecclesiastical council of the proceedings of a committee on the 
case of Mr. AVilliams, of which he was one. He sujjposed 
them to be misrepresented. No vote by the church; they ad- 
journed because it was late. On Friday, the 24th, the church 
met. Deacon Hitchcock was asked whether he still persisted 
in his request to be dismissed from serving as deacon. He 
answered, " Yes." The church voted not to dismiss him for 
the reasons assigned. The deacon said he must decline 
serving. JSTothing further was observed against the conduct 
of Brother Bliss, either by Deacon Hitchcock or the members 
of his committee; '' but from what he then observed to them 
and from the offers he made the matter seemed to be wholly 
dropt." More than a year after this Deacon Hitchcock de- 
sired a certificate of regular standing and dismission from this 
church " to the church in the north parish or any other regular 
church where he might occasionally desire communion." 
* JSTote "H." 

Dr. Stebbins asks, " Where is Brother Williams? " He 
adds, " Xot a ray of light is thrown upon his destiny; he is left 
suspended between the church and the world in perilous 
proximity to the latter." I find evidence to the contraiy. It 
is my belief he was restored to church membership, for against 
his name is written in Mr. AVarren's handwriting, in the old 
book kept by him, now extant, " Removed," which means, ac- 
cording to a note inserted in the new records copied from the 
old, " Removed by letter to another church." A careful 
reading of the record of these proceedings, as it was kept by 
Mr. Warren, convinces me that the church was obliged to 
take some action by the fact of Mr. Williams' " voluntary con- 
fession." In its proceedings it sought simply the truth. The 
weight of evidence was that he had been profane, which 
certainly was ground for suspension. From the fact that 
the advisability of making him a member of the church 
was questioned, and also that the church found ground 
to reconsider its vote to reinstate him, it would seem that all 



niSTOinCAL ABBEERS 



25 



was not straight about him. According to Congregational 
usage, the church was right in refusing the appeal to an as- 
sociation and desiring a mutual council. It was not that the 
church wanted " more time " to consider the matter of adopt- 
ing the advice of the council, but that some thought his re- 
instating ought to be deferred, and that the church as a 
whole later became of this opinion. It was, moreover, more 
than a year after this trouble that Deacon Hitchcock asked 
for a letter of dismission. 

Mr. Warren's account of the trouble does not reveal any 
spirit of malice, but simply the desire on the part of the church 
to keep herself pure. In a word, if John Bliss misrepre- 
sented Deacon Hitchcock, according to Mr. WaiTcn's account 
he made such offers that the whole matter was dropped, and 
Deacon Hitchcock remained a year and more in the church. 
Mr. Williams was restored, and lived so well that he was 
granted, at some later date, a letter of dismission as one in good 
standing to another church. * ISTote "I." 

I have dwelt on this case so long to correct any wrong im- 
pressions, but mainly because I believe it was in part this 
purifying process that made possible the great revival which 
came later in Mr. Warren's ministry. 

During the time of this controversy the parish raised in 
1793 £246 15s. to finish the meeting-house and see it glassed. 
Things now went on smoothly until in 1807, at a meeting of the 
church on June 7th, " conversation was had upon some mat- 
ters of grievance " which John Bliss had against Elizur Til- 
lotson, Jr. 

This Colonel John Bliss was one of the most prominent 
citizens of the place. He had represented the town in the 
Legislature as early as 1773, and was a member of the three 
provincial congresses. He was also a member of the first 
Senate under the Constitution of 1780, and for many years 
afterwards. He had commanded a regiment in the Revolu- 
tion, and was the only field officer in the war from the town. 
He was a judge of the Court of General Sessions, or Common 
Pleas, for the County of Hampden, for many years. 

Elizur Tillotson, Jr., was keeper of one of the taverns in 
the village. From time to time he had applied to the courts 
where Mr. Bliss was one of the judges, for a license — which 
had been granted. When in 1807 he applied as before, his 



26 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

application was met by a remonstrance from some of the lead- 
ing men of the parish, disapproving of his request and stating 
that his place was not a pro]5cr one for a tavern, nor was his 
condition such as would enable him to keep a house of any 
benefit to the public. This was signed by John Bliss, Robert 
Sessions, Comfort Chaffee, Jr., William and Eneas Clark, 
Jonathan and Levi Flynt, Joseph Morris, Edward jMorris, 
David Burt, ]^oah Sexton, and nine others. * Mr. Tillotson 
failed to get his license. This, of course, angered him against 
those who had signed the petition, and chiefly against Judge 
Bliss. Tillotson's course was such as to cause Mr. Bliss to 
bring the matter before the church in the follo^^dng letter: 

" Reverend and Beloved : From a sense of duty and 
anxious for the interests of religion in this place I am con- 
strained to exhibit a complaint against our brother Elizur Til- 
lotson Jun. which comprises two or three articles of grievance. 
viz. In that he said last fall when he returned from jSTorth- 
ampton that I lied and he could prove it. And also that if I 
and General Shepard and one more had been dead or in our 
graves where we ought to have been years ago he should have 
obtained his license. And further, that upon hearing of the 
death of Captain Stebbins, he observed that the Lord had 
begun a good work, and that if he would proceed and carry off 
Col. Bliss, Comfort Chaffee and John Good well we should 
have good times; all of which I think are contrary to a christian 
profession, and I desire the church to take them under con- 
sideration and to proceed with Brother Tillotson as the gospel 
du'ects." 

The result of it all was that Mr. Tillotson was censured, 
then suspended, and at last restored. Mr. Bliss confessed to 
some " unhappy expressions " in his complaint, and asked for- 
giveness of any whose feelings he had hurt. By the naii*ating 
of these things, unpleasant though they be, it is made 
manifest that the church kept a strict watch over its members, 
seeking to hold them to a gospel standard of confession for 
wrong and effort for future right doing. In this Avay I con- 
ceive that with a faithful man and biblical preacher in the 
pulpit, the soil was prepared and the seed sown which resulted 
in a magnificent harvest in 1822. 



* The nine others were: Wm. Clark, Asa Isham, Sninuel Sexton, Walter Shaw, Jared 
Case, Wm. Wood, Lemnel Jones, Charles Sessions, and Nathaniel B. Chaffee. — J. F. M. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



27 



In the natural Avorld the husbandman looketh for a har- 
vest only when he has made ready for it. There is many a 
farm in our own town richly productive to-day which years 
ago would not have borne half it now does; there were rocks 
and snags to be gotten out, wet places to be drained, which 
called for toil from the early moraing to the late evening. 
Even so is it in the spiritual kingdom ; so was it in the days of 
Warren. For thirty years he labored faithfully, and the re- 
sult of his toil began to show when, in about 1820, a revival 
spirit took possession of the people. Meetings were held, 
and some ten united with the church and became working 
Christians. In a letter written in February, 1822, from An- 
dover by Horace Sessions to his brother Sumner, it appears 
that Horace had been contracting for a number of volumes of 
the Missionary Herald for subscribers in Wilbraham. He 
expresses surprise at the large number of subscriptions pro- 
cured. " 1 cannot conceive," he says, '' how you accom- 
plished it." Here is index of an interest in spiritual things; 
an interest deep enough to touch people's pockets. 

But another voice was destined to rouse the people's hearts 
more intensely, and with our good parson, then sixty-four 
years of age, to reap for the Lord a harvest, the like of which 
this church never knew before, nor has known since. 

In the early part of May, 1822, the Rev. Asahel iS^ettleton 
retired from ISTew Haven to Somers for the purpose of recover- 
ing his health, which was much impaired by sickness. A few 
weeks after he arrived, a report reached the people that there 
was some religious excitement at Somers, and that a Mr. 
Xettleton was there attending one or two evening meetings 
during the Aveek. Indeed, it was shortly announced that 
there were several persons anxious for their souls. Awakened 
by principles of curiosity, or through the influence of other 
motives, some of the young people in tlie place concluded to 
go down and test the verity of these reports. The evening 
fixed upon was Friday, June 21st, and a number at an early 
hour repaired to the house of worship in Somers. To their 
astonishment they found a crowded audience and awful so- 
lemnity pervading. The subject of humble submission to 
Christ was effectually enforced. To some of these \nsitors it 
proved to be a word in season. One young person was in such 
anxiety as to be unable to return, and therefore tarried in one 



28 lllsrOK'ICAI. ADDK'KSS 

of the families of the neighborhood. The next day she ex- 
pressed a hope of having passed from death to life. 

This, with other cii'ciimstances, awakened wdtli Mr. JSTettle- 
ton an interest in the people of South Wilbraham. Express 
invitations were at this time, as well as previously, forwarded 
by the minister and individuals urging Mr. Kettleton to visit 
South Wilbrahani. On Tuesday afternoon, June 25th, Mr. 
Xettleton, for the first time, consented to liave an appointment 
made for him in the hall at sunset. This appointment, though 
of a few hours' previous notice, like an electric shock reached 
every extremity of the society. ' At the set time the room 
was literally crowded, and multitudes were yet assembling. 
Mr. JSTettleton took his station, from wdiich in the hall little 
else was to be seen than a dense surface of expressive coun- 
tenances, and at the same time from the window^s might be 
seen trees and roofs of adjacent buildings occupied by anxious 
hearers. The preacher's subject was, " The ground of alaiin 
to awakened sinners." 

Many Avere roused to anxiety. These scenes were new 
and interesting to the people. There had never been a gen- 
eral revival in the place from its first settlement till this time, 
and the language of every heart seemed to be " what do these 
things mean." It would be an injustice to the opposers of 
religion not to mention that they acted their part well. Slan- 
derous reports and insinuations of every kind w^ere current 
against Mr. I^ettleton. Much opposition was offered by the 
Univei'salists. At one time a meeting was appointed in the 
Bull Hill schoolhouse. One Reuben Hendricks stood at the 
door with a club determined to break up the meeting. This 
.he succeeded in doing; but Captain Comfort Chaffee opened 
his house to the people and Mr. I^ettleton preached there from 
the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Still the op- 
position continued. " I had rather sickness would visit my 
family than ISTettleton," said one. Said another, " If he visits 
this place we shall have a famine." Others said, "ISTow this 
excitement shall not be, we will put a stop to it; it is really 
becoming a serious evil ; when business gets to this pass, it is 
time that Ave interfere." Had the smallest living atom pro- 
posed to create a world it would not have appeared more ridicu- 
lous than did these anti-religious reasoners stopping a rcA'ival 
in a dignified manner. As in a moment thcA' found their 



IIISTOKICAL ADDKESS 



29 



refuge of lies swept away bj the powerful influence of God's 
Spirit. 

But Satau now mustered all his forces; not a drunkard, 
profane person, or Sabbatli-breaker in the place who was not 
candid in saying he was very much alarmed at this growing 
evil, a revival ; and that he thought it intolerable to have such 
an ado about religion, and he thought it his duty to discoun- 
tenance it. During this opposition, Mr. I^ettleton, so far as 
his health would permit, was rallying the consciences of one and 
another as he had opportunity to subjects of greater moment 
than of opposition to religion. On June 27th a letter w^as re- 
ceived from President JSTott, containing an extract from the 
minutes of the Albany Presbytery, in which were expressed 
the sentiments of approbation which this body cherished 
toward the Rev. Mr. Nettleton ; and in which the Presbytery 
requested him " to furnish them with a detailed memorial of 
the causes helping the increase and hastening the decline of re- 
vivals of religion." 

The doctor then added: "If it were necessary for me 
to add my testimony to that of the Presbytery, I should say, no 
man ever left us sustaining a more unblemished character or 
held in more affectionate remembrance than Mr. I^ettleton. 
His labors of love here will long be remembered by our 
churches." 

A friend of Mr, ISTettleton's showed this letter to the more 
respectable opposers. This, with other circumstances, seemed 
to carry conviction to every mind of the impotency of oppo- 
sition. On the evening of this B^th of June Mr. l^ettleton 
met his second appointment in the church, which was full and 
solemn. There no longer remained a, doubt of the presence 
of God by the special influence of his Spirit among the people. 
Many were anxiously inquiring, " Men and brethren what 
shall we do? " 

From this time forward the work advanced rapidly. Let 
us enter the church and listen to one of the sermons. The 
text is of Dives and Lazarus. Mr. ISTettleton begins by saying- 
it is not a parable; the Scripture says there was a rich man. 
He goes on to say the moment a man dies he is in happiness or 
misery. ISText, the request of the rich man indicates that this 
misery is very tonnenting. The answer, that between God 
and Dives there is a fixed gulf, indicates that this torment is nn- 
alleviated. 



30 ' HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

Dr. Todd, in the life of Lis father, speaks of having been 
much impressed with this sermon which he heard at IS'ew 
Haven. One of its hearers in this church describes it as an 
awful sermon under wliich the audience fairly quailed. By 
such preaching the young were deeply affected. At the 
close of one meeting a young woman was overwhelmed 
with a sense of her guilt. As she dw^elt some distance from 
the village she was asked by one of her companions living near 
to spend the night with her. At midnight Mr. i^ettleton was 
sent for to come to this house. It was filled with people. He 
found the young woman sustained in the arms of her friends, 
piteously crying out, " Lord Jesus, have mercy on my soul." 
The next day, while in a company of young people with whom 
Mr. Nettleton was talking, she, with one or two others, ex- 
pressed joy and peace in believing. 

On Thursday, July 11th, Mr. Nettleton met sixty or eighty 
in an anxious meeting — an awful scene of distress. From 
this they w^ent to the church, wdiere he spoke on the danger of 
grie^nng the Spirit of God. It was indeed a heart-searching 
subject. The sobs and sighs of anxious sinners were to be 
heard from all parts of the house. At its close a large num- 
ber rushed towards Mr. jN^ettleton as if expecting assistance 
from him. Many cried out aloud and the house was filled 
with groans of distress. The multitude clambered upon the 
rear seats, beholding wdth astonishment these effects of the 
Holy Spirit of God opening the eyes of the blind and loosing 
the tongiies of the dumb. ]Mr. ^N^ettleton addressed them for 
about five minutes and asked them to retire as quietly as pos- 
sible. Some were so overwhelmed that it became necessary to 
urge and even assist them home. By ]\Ionday, the 29th of 
July, thirty had been converted. At an anxious meeting on 
the evening of this day, in the village hall, there were at least 
a hundred and fifty present. At the close of the meeting, 
which was peculiarly interesting, there was witnessed the most 
intense scene of distress known thus far during the revival; 
there was evidenced generally a more deep conviction of sin 
than at any previous meeting. As the people passed on to the 
green retiring from the hall, there w^as a burst of feeling among 
the more anxious, which one may imagine was a faint ex- 
pression of the agonies of the damned on receiving their final 
doom. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



31 



Flying to eacli other's arms, in piercing cries tliey ex- 
claimed, '' I am sinking to liell, I am sinking to hell." They 
were immediately led by theii* friends to the house of Mr. 
"Warren, just across the street, where for a time were responded 
from one room to another cries which were calculated to melt 
the hardest heart. jSTev-er did the justice and mercy of God 
united in a work of grace appear to move in greater majesty 
than on this occasion. The voice of opposition for a time was 
hushed to silence, and many by what they witnessed were con- 
verted. On the next day a number who were in such distress 
on the preceding evening expressed a hope of having sub- 
mitted, and the number of anxious sinners was very much in- 
creased. 

From this time on the work steadily advanced until nearly 
one hundred had expressed a faith in Christ, and at the com- 
munion in October sixty-two were received into the church, 
among whom was our present senior deacon, William V. ScvS- 
sions. 

Surely they who labor faitlifully God does not overlook; 
in His own time he sends the blessing. I love to linger on this 
period ; it is to me surrounded with a holy light ; it is the pic- 
ture of a man living to see God's magnificent blessing on his 
lifelong work. 

But I must hasten to give you a summary of Mr. Warren's 
pastorate, and, with some estimate of this your first pastor, 
pass on to the next. 

His pastorate was forty years long. During it he ad- 
mitted to the church 262, an average of about six a year. He 
baptized 478, married 226 couples, and educated for college a 
dozen young men. 

In ISTovember, 1828, the church assembled to lay away 
Lydia, the wife of Mr. Wan-en, at the age of 73. She was 
the daughter of Colonel Bliss, and for thirty-nine years had 
been a vigorous-minded, courageous, and faithful wife. 

ISTot long after this Mr. Warren was himself taken sick 
with some affection of the lungs. It was winter, he was an 
old man, and he could not get well. During this sickness his 
thoughts turned especially to spiritual things, and he made an 
effort to give utterance to the fullness of his feelings. When 
nature was nearly exhausted he bade good-bye to his family, 
and peacefully fell asleep. . . . Three months after the 



32 TIISIOKICAr. ADDRESS 

funeral of Lvdia Warren the elmreli assembled again, this 
time to bury their spiritual father. Mr. Strong of Somers 
preached the funeral sermon; then they went to the hillside 
yonder and laid him away. Side by side they buried them, 
man and wife; the weeping %\nllow on tbe headstone marks 
the people's grief, and words beneath, " I am the resurrection 
and the life; he that believetli on me, tho' he were dead, yet 
shall he live," tell their happy state. 

Of Mr. Warren it becomes us to say that he possessed the 
characteristic indispensable in a minister — a self-distrust in 
his o^^^l powers, not great enough to allow him to do less than 
his best, but sufficient to make him constantly depend on G-od 
for Ills guidance and blessing. This made him peculiarly a 
man of prayer. It is the witness of those who knew him as a 
brother minister that they were deeply moved by this charac- 
teristic of the man; and Ms oldest living listener, in all that she 
had forgotten of his ministry, yet remembered especially the 
words of Ills public prayers. 

Witli these traits so prominent, it is easy to see how he be- 
came remarkable for his piety, l^one ever doubted that. 
I do not believe you could find a man or woman wdio them- 
selves ever questioned, or heard questioned, the goodness of 
Parson Warren. This is to me peculiarly significant, and will 
find its place of comment further on. . . . Mr. Wan-en pos- 
sessed a good knowledge of Scripture facts. His education 
had been as complete as tbe times afforded, and there is every 
indication that he stood well intellectually witli his ministerial 
associates. 

One thing more ; he was a man of large sympathy. If a 
beggar came to his door at meal time, he would rise and serve 
the beggar before he himself ate. You mil know then by his 
act to a stranger what he was to the people he loved. 

Were not the conditions to success united in this man, and 
is it any wonder that the revival which so moved this vicinity 
in the first quarter of the century visited the church to which 
he ministered ? 

" He is gone who seemed so good. 
Gone ; but nothing can bereave him 
Of the force he made his own 
Being here ; and we believe him 
Something far advanced in state, 
And tliat he wears a truer crown 
Than any wreath that man can weave him." 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



33 



Lucius W. Clark, the second pastor of the church, was in- 
stalled December 9, 1829, about nine months after the death 
of Mr. Warren. He was a native of Mansfield, Conn., gradu- 
ated at Brown University in 1825, and studied theology with 
Dr. Ide of Medway in this State. When he came to the church 
here he was twenty-eight years old. There was, therefore, a 
great contrast between Mr. Warren and Mr. Clark. The for- 
mer was at his death seventy-three years of age ; he had been 
in the parish long enough to know all its members; he was a 
man mild by nature, so that it was not easy for a young man 
mth almost no experience to follow the first pastor — by 
nature, knowledge, and experience so fitted to lead the church. 
It has been recorded of Mr. Clark that he little understood the 
temper of the people, and therefore brought in dissensions 
which resulted in his going away. It is the desire of your his- 
torian, while telling the exact truth, to throw the mantle of 
charity over those upon whom censure may have fallen. 

So far as my own researches have gone I find in Mr. Clark 
purity of motive in his work, but a lack of wisdom in method, 
which is, perhaps, to be partly accounted for by his youth. In 
proof of this let me cite a case which occurred in 1831. A cer- 
tain brother had for some time absented himself from com- 
munion. The records imply that he was suspended. Later 
on he complained that no wi-itten accusation had been lodged 
against him, and so I suppose asked to be restored, for I find 
record to the effect that no vTT^tten complaint being presented 

the church voted to forgive Brother and restore him 

to the fellowship of the church. • After this record Mr. Clark 
put several exclamation marks, and then added: " A man 
who for more than a year has trampled upon the institutions 
of Christ's house, yet is suffered to pass with impunity even 
while manifesting hostility to the church, shall not God visit 
such a church with the rod." To Mr. Clark the case was a 
clear one. He saw it in but one light; expressed his opinion 
by strong words and exclamation marks. His motive was 
right; he desired the purity of the church. His method 
wrong; if he believed the brother at fault he should have left 
his opinion unwritten, and made its intensity the motive to 
his effort to get hold of the brother and v.'in him, by leading 
him back. 

I think it safe to say he failed of the best success because he 
5 



34 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

tried to drive, rather tlian lead, his people. The preaching of 
Mr. Clark was of that unyielding sort which in some cases con- 
ciliated not so much as it antagonized. 

Let us lay, as I have already suggested, this lack of wisdom 
in method, while we admit the purity of motive, to the pas- 
tor's youth and inexperience, and turn to the good that was 
done under his pastorate. 

When Mr. Clark came to the church it numbered 107, 
33 males and 74 female members. Of the original members 
there still remained Zadoc Stebbins, Joseph Bumstead, and 
Lucy Morris. Dui*ing his pastorate of three years 22 were 
admitted to the church, 21 of them by profession of faith, three 
of whom are still with us; 16 were baptized, 11 children and 5 
adults. An effort was also made to increase the spiritual in- 
terests of the church by excluding from the communion those 
who were unfitted for it, and by appointing a committee to 
visit all the members and talk with them separately on matters 
of religion. 

During this ministry, on the 23d of February, 1832, the 
'^ Ladies' Benevolent Society " was formed, the object of 
which was " to raise funds by means of manual labor for the 
purpose of promoting some benevolent object." Mrs. Clark, 
Mrs, Flynt, and Mrs. Betsy Warren were the first directors. 

Mr. Clark left here in December, 1832. For some time he 
preached as stated supply in the Fifth Church of Plymouth. 
He died at Middlebury in 1854 at the age of fifty-three. 

From here on, your historian finds his task, in many places, 
an exceedingly unsatisfactory one. The church records are 
silent from October 5, 1833, to December 31, 1838, except in 
so far as to record the names of those admitted to the church 
and those baptized. Even after the coming of Mr. Hazen, 
Avith the exception of one case of discipline, nothing is recorded 
except as before the names of the baptized and admitted from 
1839 to December, 1846 — in all a period of thirteen years. 
Here and there a paper is to be found in the possession of some 
individual; these, as they offer clues, with what lives in the 
memory of the people, must fomi the substance of our story 
for many years. 

Between the dismission of Mr. Clark in 1832 and the 
ordination of Mr. Hazen in 1839, the church was supplied by 
Mr. Wright, Mr. Brockaway, and others. Mr. Wright was 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



35 



called "a saintly man"; Mr.Brockaway "a superior preacher." 
One man came for some time whom the people thought of 
settling, but found him unfit for the trust. After his de- 
parture the records of the church's doings were found scattered 
on the floor. During this period 19 were admitted to the 
church, 8 by profession, 11 by letter; 18 were baptized, 17 
children, 1 adult. 

On the 31st of December, 1838, the church voted unani- 
mously to call as its pastor James A. Hazen. He accepted the 
call and was ordained January 30, 1839. Mr. Hazen came 
from West Springfield. He was graduated at Yale College 
in 1834, and later at the New Haven Theological Seminary. 

This was one of the very prosperous and happy pastorates 
of the church. In it 15 were admitted and 24 were baptized. 
The great event, however, was the remodeling of the church. 

As the building stood on the green it was a source of an- 
noyance, because it marred very greatly the looks of the street. 
In 1817, and again in 1822 and 1824, attempts were made to 
remove it, but without success. Now it was old-fashioned; 
ideas of church architecture had changed. In 1838, on the 
13th of February, a meeting of the citizens of the South Parish 
was held " to take into consideration the propriety of moving 
and repairing the meeting-house belonging to said parish." 
John B.Morris was moderator of the meeting, and R. S. Chapin 
clerk. A committee of seven was chosen to examine and re- 
port the probable expense of moving and repairing, also the 
expense of a site. These seven were Samuel Beebe, Beriah 
Smith, William Y. Sessions, Aaron Y^arren, Stephen S. West, 
Ralph S. Chapin, and Charles Sessions. This committee re- 
ported on Tuesday, February 20th, as follows: " The expense 
of moving the house $50. Expense of site on Captain Ses- 
sion's comer, including his garden amounting to sixty rods of 
ground to be cleared of buildings, $300. Should the parish 
agree to purchase the above, Captain Sessions pledges himself 
to pay $5 for every $100 that shall be raised for moving and 
repairing. Expense of basement not to exceed $200, a total 
of $550'." 

On the first of March following a committee of five was 
chosen to draft and circulate a subscription paper to obtain 
money for these purposes. On the 15th inst. a committee of 
five, consisting of Beriah Smith, Sumner Sessions, William Y. 



36 IIISTOKIOAL ADDRESS 

Sessions, Samuel Stebbius, and Aaron Warren, was appointed 
to superintend the moving, and begin as soon as practicable. 
A subscription paper was started, dated Marcli 2, 1838, under 
four heads: First, for new site and moving; second, base- 
ment story; third, steeple; fourth, slips, etc. 

Some gave for one and would not give for others; a few 
gave for all four purposes. The building was moved in the 
summer of 1838, but sufficient money to repair the church as 
desired was not raised, and in January, 18-10, another paper 
was circulated. It read as follows : 

" A celebrated and pious writer once observed that it did 
not become a community of Christians to decorate their 
dwelling houses and neglect the house of public worship. 
Although it is delightful to render to our Maker th© homage 
of a grateful, penitent, and obedient heart in any situation, 
still no place can be made too convenient or delightful for this 
purpose. Being fully aware that the Congregational meeting- 
house in the south parish of Wilbraham is far from being 
elegant, comfortable, or convenient, and desiring at least in 
some manner to make it so, the undersigned hereby agree to 
pay the several sums annexed to our names to Samuel Beebe, 
N"oah Langdon, William Y. Sessions, Ralph S. Chapin, and 
Marcius Cady for the purpose of repairing said house, lessen- 
ing the room in height to the distance of 15 or 16 feet in the 
clear or length of posts b}^ erecting another floor at such dis- 
tance above the present one as to leave the aforesaid distance 
in the height of the room and fit it up in a convenient, work- 
manlike manner conformably to the principles of modern 
style; subscriptions to be paid when the work is completed." 

Sums appear to the amount of $1,023. Other subscrip- 
tions were added to these, and the work was carried on. The 
gallery, pews, and floor were taken out; a new raiser! floor was 
laid; rooms were built below; ten feet were added for a belfry; 
a bell was bought in Boston, and in December, 1840, the build- 
ing as repaired was dedicated, the sermon being preached by 
the pastor. 

During the pastorate of Mr. Hazen great efforts were made 
to popularize in the place the millerite views of the second com- 
ing of Christ and the end of the world in 1 843. Papers and 
books were circulated, especially " The Midnight Cry " ; and 
many lectures delivered. To Mr. Hazen the whole thing was 



HISTOEICAL ADDRESS 



37 



" a baseless speculation and calculated to exert a most per- 
nicious influence on the interests of true religion." He felt it 
his duty to expose its fallacy and to exhibit what he considered 
the truth. He therefore delivered in 1842 some discourses 
aimed at the false doctrine. I write of this with the object 
not only of giving you the point of history, but also because 
hereby I shall be able to show you the man. The task was a 
most unpleasant and painful one, undertaken only from an im- 
perious sense of duty to his fellow men and of accountability 
to God. At the close of one of the sermons which was pub- 
lished, he says: "Holding as I do the most responsible of 
public stations, I should prove recreant to the vows of my 
office if, through fear of giving offence or of subjecting myself 
to misrepresentation, I should sit supinely b}' and see what 1 
regard as a most baleful delusion sweeping through the com- 
munity. May God give me grace never to fear to speak the 
whole truth when duty demands it, even though I shall thereby 
drive from me my nearest friends." Measured by the stand- 
ard of the prophecy of Ezekiel, shall we not give our com- 
mendation to the course of Mr. Hazen as to one who loved God 
and His truth, loved his fellow better than his own popularity, 
and yet possessed such method in his work, speaking logically, 
historically, and scripturally, and with such spirit, that the 
cause of tnith was benefited and he himself unhurt. 

In 1847 Mr. Hazen asked for his dismission from the pas- 
torate of the church because of ill health. The church was 
reluctant to have him go; they advised him to take a journey 
and to use all other means to better his physical condition. 
But Mr. Hazen still thought it best that he should be released, 
and was accordingly dismissed June 22, 1847. 

He afterwards settled in South William sto^\Ti, and at Lis- 
bon, Conn., where he died October 29, 1862, at the age of 
forty-nine. His body was at his request brought here for 
burial, and was placed beside that of the mfe and child whom 
twenty years before he had laid to rest. 

In less than six months after the dismission of Mr. Hazen 
the church voted unanimously to invite the Rev. Hubbard 
Beebe to become its pastor. He accepted the invitation, and 
was installed on the 19th of April, 1848. 

Mr. Beebe, who was a native of Richmond, Mass., came 
to South Wilbraham with the double experience of preacher 



38 HISTOR I (' A 1 , A DDKESS 

and sclioolteaclier. lie graduated at Williams College in 
1833, and later at Andover. He was ordained at Long- 
meadow, October 18, 1837, Avliere he labored five and a half 
years. From there he went to Westfield and became a teacher 
in the academy. From Westfield he came to this church. 
We shall find that his work here was a two-fold one in its re- 
sults; first, church-wise, and second, in giving impulse to 
secular education. 

Following a particularly good man, himself gifted and 
popular as a preacher, Mr. Beebe reaped a good harvest in the 
four years of his life here, 26 being added to the church, 18 
by profession. In September of 1848 the church voted to 
adopt in place of its first covenant and confession of faith those 
of the First Church in Springfield. 

The form of union under which the church was organized 
was a covenant and confession combined. With the excep- 
tion of one instance it did not distinctly say " we believe," but 
implied that " believe " when it said '^ We give up ourselves to 
the Lord Jehovah, the one only living and tme God, subsisting 
in three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, equal in power 
and glory." This way of stating their belief does not seem 
always to have given satisfaction ; for I find, on the authority 
of tradition, that a confession of faith in manuscript form was 
long used asking for the assent of the one presenting himself 
for membership to a definite " You believe." 

The first confession spoke of God in the trinity, as did also 
the second; the first spoke of baptism and the Lord's supper 
- — ■ on these the second was silent ; the first mentioned Christ's 
ascension and the consequent giving of pastors and teachers; 
the second made no particular mention of these. On the 
other hand the second affirmed man's sin and misery caused 
by disobedience; pointed to Christ as the one "bearing the 
curse and answering the law " for man; affirmed its belief in a 
justification by faith; in the Scriptures of the Old and Kew 
Testaments as God's word; in a second coming of Christ, and a 
consequent everlasting punishment for the wicked and hap- 
piness for Christians. The first had a covenant with a con- 
fession implied; the second a confession with a distinct coven- 
ant added. But the confession lacked some of the essential 
features of the church's belief, like the Sacraments; and the 
covenant, while it asked for the promise of the one joining the 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



39 



cliurch, offered no promise in return from those already mem- 
bers. 

Seeking for reasons for the change to the confession and 
covenant of the Springfiekl church, from a study of the first 
and second confessions and covenants, these have appeared to 
me, in want of any direct testimony, to be sufficient. 

The " Articles of Faith," so called, adopted in 1848, is 
the one now in use in the church. It is very full and per- 
fectly orthodox; admits of no probation after death, but makes 
the day of judgment the time when " the state of all will be 
unalterably fixed." One thing especially strong about it is 
that it fortifies its statements with a great many Scriptural 
references, as many as seventy-five being given in one instance. 
The covenant embraces a promise on the part of the one join- 
ing the church, and also those who receive him, which the old 
did not. 

This work will indicate Mr. Beebe as a man progressive 
according to that idea of progress which while it loses noth- 
ing of the past which has been good, the rather seeks to hold 
that good by adding more to it; a principle not always observed 
in the matter of church creeds. 

The enterprise of the man also appears in the stimulus 
which he gave to secular education in the town. There were 
a good many young people here in his day, and by working at 
them, and through them, he roused the parents to an active 
sense of the young people's needs in educational privileges. It 
followed that an association was formed by several gentlemen 
of the town, with the object, as they stated in their first pros- 
pectus, " of establishing upon a permanent basis a select school 
in this village to secure a more thorough and extensive course 
of instruction for our youth." 

The committee for the association announced to the public 
that in the village of South Wilbraham, beautiful in its natural 
scenery and healthy in its physical and moral atmospheres, a 
select school had been thus established. A neat and con- 
venient building had been erected, having a large schoolroom 
and two recitation-rooms on the first floor, and a fine hall on 
the second; that the building was furnished with maps, charts, 
and philosophical apparatus; that the course of instruction 
under the direction of Mr. George Brooks, the principal, 
would be such as to secure to the pupil a thorough and prac- 



40 IITSTOKTCAT, ADDRESS 

tical training. The common branches taught would be from 
Colburn's First Lessons, Thompson's Arithmetic, Goldthwait's 
Grammar, Smith's Geography, and AVilson's United States 
History. 

The higher branches would embrace Algebra, Euclid, 
N'atural Philosophy, Chemistry, Physiology, Philosophy of 
Natural History, Botany, Intellectual Philosophy, Ancient 
Geography, General History, and the Latin Language. The 
committee also gave parents the assurance that careful atten- 
tion would be paid to the formation of correct tastes and habits 
in study, and to the general deportment of pupils; that a 
healthy state of moral and religious feeling would be regarded 
of the utmost importance, and that the Bible would be the text 
book in the daily religious exercises and instructions of the 
school. The total expenses of each pupil for the year were 
not to exceed $88.50. 

Afterwards the school passed under the direction of Mr. 
Wood, as its principal; and Trigonometry, Astronomy, Po- 
litical Economy, Bookkeeping, Rhetoric, Psychology, Logic, 
with the Greek, French, and German languages, and a course 
in vocal music were added to the curriculum. 

Of the effects of the school it must suffice us here to say that 
an educational impetus was given to the town which is l)eing 
felt to-day. 

Mr. Beebe was dismissed from the church on the 24tli of 
March, 1852. He afterwards labored with the churches at 
Sturbridge and West Haven, Conn., and then became in turn 
secretary of the American Sabbath-school Union, agent of the 
American Bible Society, and associate secretary of the Ameri- 
can Seaman's Friend Society. He died of heart disease on the 
21st of June last at Bethlehem, N. H., at the age of seventy- 
six, and against his name history will surely write — a faith- 
ful, persistent, and progressive worker in the kingdom of the 
Master. 

For the next year and more after the dismission of Mr. 
Beebe, the pulpit was supplied by different men; some were 
called but declined to accept. Although the church had no 
pastor, a good deal of religious interest prevailed. Meetings 
were held at the house of Deacon Sumner Sessions, and in 
April, 1853, twenty -four were admitted to the church on pro- 
fession of faith. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



41 



One daj Deacon Sessions was riding along the street wlien 
he met a man who proved to be Rev. Mr. Galpin of AVest 
Stafford. 

The conversation tnrned to church matters, when the 
deacon said that it was very hard to find supplies for the pulpit, 
and added that they had no one for the next Sabbath. The 
minister answered that he knew of a man, a graduate of the 
last class at Andover, who was that week coming to his house, 
and could preach here the next Sunday. 

He came and preached, seemed to be the man for the hour, 
and so it was decided to call him. Thus the church obtained 
its fifth pastor. Rev. E. S. Skinner, who was ordained May 19, 
1853. 

Mr. Skinner was a native of Plattsburg, IST. Y., graduated 
at Oberlin College in 1849, and then at Andover Seminary. 
He was the active pastor of the church for one year only, so 
that the story of his work is soon told. 

The religious interest prevalent at the time of his coming- 
continued, and four were received to the church at the next 
communion on profession. 

The church now for the first time chose a standing com- 
mittee of three to act in connecton with the pastor and deacons. 
She also showed her life by appointing committees to print 
the articles of faith adopted under Mr. Beebe and to re\dse the 
records of the church; a sort of spiritu.nl taking account of 
stock and bringing before the members her condition, and put- 
ting in their hands her new creed as the motive and measure of 
future activity. 

During his college and seminary course, by reason of over- 
work, Mr. Skinner contracted a bronchial trouble, which, dur- 
ing his first year here, assumed an inflammatory form. This 
so unfitted him for his work that he was obliged to give up 
preaching. The trouble increasing, at the end of a year he 
asked to be dismissed, and was released from this charge April 
11, 1855. 

The same council which dismissed him installed his suc- 
cessor, the Rev. James C. Houghton. He was born at 
Lyndon, Yt., May 13, 1810. He spent three years at Amherst 
College, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1837, and at the 
Theological Institute of Connecticut in 1840. He was or- 
dained as an evan2:elist at Storrsville in Petersham, of this 



42 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

state, December 22, 1840, where lie supplied till April, 1843. 
From 1843 to 1845 he was acting pastor at East Hartland, 
Conn., and Granby, Conn., from 1845 to 1847. From Sep- 
tember 15, 1847, to February, 1851, he was settled at Middle 
Haddam, and for the two years and a half following at Nepaug 
in New Hartford. The next year he came to South Wil- 
braham, remaining till October 1, 1856, about seventeen 
months. 

The day of the installation there was a driving snow storm, 
which also is true of the days of Mr. Hazen's and Mr. Beebe's 
installations, with rain instead of snow at Mr. Skinner's. 

The sermon of the installation day was preached by Mr. 
Colton of Monson from Paul's words written to Timothy in the 
Second Epistle, the first five verses of the fourth chapter. 

Standing as I do thirty years after the time of Mr. Hough- 
ton, and, therefore, able to judge impartially, seekmg as you 
have made it incumbent on me to give a true picture of the 
past, I cannot but state it as my opinion that Mr. Houghton left 
the pastorate of the church because he obeyed implicitly the 
words of the ordination text. 

He came from a seminary ever characterized by its faith- 
ful adherence to the Bible in its every part. He was a man 
of strong convictions, based on a careful study of the Word. 
The creed of the church, which he came to uphold, in its 
second article says: "We believe that the Scriptures are 
profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruc- 
tion in righteousness." It fortifies its position by the words of 
Timothy beginning " Every Scripture is profitable for teach- 
ing." The creed of the church, in its ninth article, commits 
itself to the doctrine of election, and cites in its support Paul's 
AVords written in Romans viii, 30. 

The preaching of this doctrine was the small end of the 
wedge, which, entering, more and more finally severed the 
pastoral relationship of Mr. Houghton from the church. 

It is but fair to say tliat the church's creed has sixteen 
articles, so that, other things being equal, one ai*ticle might 
not claim more than one-sixteenth of the Sundays' sermons. 
Yet if the preacher saw any lack of adherence to the church's 
stated belief, his fidelity to the Master, to his own convictions, 
and to the church would become the motive to his dwelling 
upon a particular subject. 



"HISTORICAL ADDKE.SvS 



43 



The council, wliicli on September 9tli advised the dis- 
mission embodied in its result, put in writing- by men so dis- 
creet as Mr, Yaille and Mr. Harding, these words: " We 
wish it understood that we do not come to this result (the dis- 
solving of the pastoral relation of Mr. Houghton and the 
church) from any want of confidence in him as a preacher of 
the doctrines of the cross and a faithful minister of Christ. 
And we cannot but embody in this result a word of caution to 
this church and people lest they allow too slight causes and 
misapprehensions to interrupt their Christian harmony; and 
also a word of exhortation that they maintain firmly and un- 
waveringly the doctrines of grace as held in their confession of 
faith." 

Mr. Houghton accordingly went away. He worked after- 
wards for eight years at Chelsea, Vt., at Roy alt on, and in other 
fields for seven years more. He died of apoplexy at the house 
of his son in Montpelier on the 29th of April, 1880, and his 
name has passed into history "^vith the words " An earnest 
preacher." 

The wedge which separated Mr. Houghton and the church 
entered the church itself to the disturbing of its peace. The 
caution of the council was not, however, without its effect. 
The church rose to a sense of her need ; a meeting was held, a 
paper prepared acknowledging the unadvisedness of words 
spoken and asking the church members to forgive the past in 
all, and henceforth to go for\vard unitedly as the followers of 
Christ with Christian charity and fellowship; and they were 
asked also to pledge themselves " renewedly to seek the peace 
and prosperity of the church." In answer to this paper nearly 
the whole church rose in token of their pledge, and from that 
day to this, so far as I am aware, the church has never objected 
to its ministers on the ground of too much doctrinal preaching. 

For five years the church now had no settled pastor. The 
pulpit was filled by Mr. Doe, Mr. Underwood, and Mr. Kit- 
tredge. During this time the church received to her mem- 
bership thirty-five, twenty-six of them being by profession. 

Beginning with the next pastorate, the telling of our story 
must assume a somewhat different form. Five of the pastors 
of the seventy-one years, whose story we have now told, have 
finished their labors and entered into their rest. One was in 
the work onlv a year, but the three following are still in the 



44 TIISTOinrAL ADDKKSS 

ministry. The estimate of these men and their methods of 
work belontjs not to me to write, but to the hand of a Later day. 
That estimate is in part now yours, wlio listened to their 
preaching, received their ministrations in your times of sorrow, 
and walked with them the streets of daily life. In the years 
to come we shall find passing away men long and closely iden- 
tified with the church's progress; two who for many years 
walked these aisles as your servants and your leaders; mth 
whom, because of their peculiar ministrations to you, our 
thought must carry for a little in remembrance of their lives 
and their work. 

On the 29th of September, 1861, the church met and voted 
a unanimous call to Rev. John Whitehill. Mr. Whitehill, a 
young man of Scotch descent, working in a mill at Chicopee, 
had awakened the interest of Air. Oviatt. Influenced by him, 
Mr. A^^litehill went to Amherst, where he graduated in 1858, 
and then to Andover. South Wilbraham was, therefore, his 
first settlement. 

For six and a half years he worked with the church, adding 
to its membership thirty, seventeen of them on profession of 
faith. 

In IvTovember of 1865 Mr. Whitehill met with the very 
severe loss of his vdfe, a constant companion in his walks, a 
truly helpful woman in his work. The next year he, in com- 
pany with the church, met with a second heavy loss in the 
death of Deacon John B. Morris. 

Mr. Moi*ris was converted in the revival of 1822, and the 
next year was made a deacon in the church ; when he died at 
the a2i:e of seventy-seven he had, therefore, been in active ser- 
vice for forty-three years. Through all this time he had been 
a prominent man in the town, and the church and social circle 
as well; he had filled many of the town offices, and had repre- 
sented it in the Legislature. 

In early life Mr. Morris' aspiration had been for a col- 
legiate education. But it seemed to fall to him to remain on 
the faiTiT, and the same sweetness of disposition which ever 
characterized the man led him to forego his own tastes in 
obedience to his grandfather's and his father's desire. 

We may be sure that if he had become a professional man 
he would have attained a real success. For in apprehension he 
was quick and accurate; he had a good voice and a happy ex- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



46 



pressiou, but, more than all, a most remarkable memory. A 
man said to me: " I used to be afraid I might forget how old 
I was, but I came to be at perfect rest on the matter, for I knew 
I could go to Deacon ^Eorris and he would remember the year 
and day I was born." And he could, for he could remember 
when every child in the village was born, and when every 
building was raised. 

This mental acumen and accuracy showed itself in his 
Christian faith. His knowledge here was thorough, and his 
faith he talked and sung and lived. One who knew him well 
says of him : " He was one of those Christians whose views 
of truth are so clear, and whose faith is so strong, and whose 
love to God is so warm and fresh that they enjoy upon earth 
something of the serenity of heaven." 

One day in May of the year 1866, Mr. Morris sung with 
an aged friend the hymn beginning " All hail the power of 
Jesus' name," and spoke of the rapture he expected to feel 
when he sang it in heaven. A few days after, when in the field, 
he appeared drowsy and inattentive; he was helped to the 
house and medical aid called, but his disease proved to be 
paralysis, and therefore incurable. 

Wlien on his death-bed his children took up the refrain of 
the song he had sung; his tongue was now silenced, but his 
heart still voiced the music. The days of the sickness were 
soon done, and the realization came of the last stanza of that 
" Coronation " : 

" Oh, that with yonder sacred throng 
We at his feet may fall ! 
We'll join the everlasting song, 
And crown Him Lord of all." 

That which sixty years before had been wi'itten of IMr. 
]\rorris' grandfather, John Bliss, we may say of him: 

" Reflection long shall hover o'er his urn 
And faithful friendship boast the power to mourn. 
Peace to his shade, while truth shall point the rest, 
Lamented most by those who knew him best " 

In this pastorate the church building called for the atten- 
tion of the people; it was out of repair, something needed to be 
done. Accordingly, in the warrant issued for the parish meet- 
ing of March 24, 1868, an article was placed — the eighth — 
as follows : "To see what measures the parish will adopt to re- 
pair the inside of their church." The parish voted to make 



46 inSTOKTCAL ADDRESS 

" thorough npalrs,'''' and cliose a committee of three " to 
investigate and report." A week later this committee re- 
ported, their work was accepted, and the committee was in- 
creased to six. A subscription paper was drawn up and cir- 
cuLatod, and the work of repair was begTin. 

The years of Mr. Whiteliill's pastorate here had been years 
of change in the ministry of the neighboring pulpits, Wil- 
braham, Somers, East Longmeadow, and Monson; north, 
south, east, and west of him men had gone, and Mr. AVhitehill 
added to the list by resigning himself in April, 18(58, leaving 
here the first of June. 

The church had now the double task of repairing the build- 
ing and finding a pastor. The latter was accomplished three 
months after the dismission of INfr. Whitehill, and the Rev. 
Edward B. Chamberlain was installed as the eighth pastor of 
the society. 

Meantime the work on the church was progressing; the en- 
trance from the porch in front to the vestry was closed; the 
gallery which ran across tbe south side and was entered by 
winding stairs running from the porch gave way to the one you 
now see; the walls were frescoed in panels; the large pulpit, 
reached by several steps, was replaced by the one behind which 
I noAv stand. The seats were the same in which you are sit- 
ting, but running straight across and arranged Avith two aisles. 
The square windows with outside blinds were replaced by 
these long ones with the blinds inside; the long sofa behind 
the pulpit gave place to chairs; a new green carpet was laid, 
and on the 3d of March, 1869, the bell called the people to 
enter by the one new door, not two, as of old, and re-dedicated 
their house of worship — completed at a cost of $3,000. 

Five years Mr. Chamberlain worked with the church, re- 
ceiving into its communion thirty on profcvssion of their faith 
and eleven by letter, an average of eight each year. 

He resigned his pastorate on the 22d of Febraary, 1874, 
and, leaving this charge at the end of the quarter, accepted a 
call to Sharon, Vt., where he noAv resides. 

After a year in which an effort was made to secure Mr. 
Eldridge as pastor, which would have been successful but for 
a previous obligation, the parish A^oted to hire the Rev. E. P. 
Root for one year. 

Before the year had expired, on the 13th of April, 1876, 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



47 



the churcli voted to Mr. Root a unanimous call to settle, and on 
a fair day in the peaceful June, the church met to ordain and 
install him in a pastorate destined to be the longest since that 
of Mr. Hazen, and, as the day itself, more than usually peace- 
ful, and to be severed mth many regrets. 

Besides the quiet growth of the church indicated by its 
conversions, there are two events in this pastorate that call 
for our special attention; the one of gain, the other of deep 
loss; the first, the readorning of the church edifice; the second, 
the death of Deacon Sumner Sessions. 

At the annual meeting of the parish, March -2,1, 1883, it 
was voted that the parish committee devise ways and means to 
fresco the church. Two wrecks later, the committee were in- 
structed to fresco the church and make all needful repairs. 
The Ladies' Society, by a committee, w^ere also to help in the 
matter of selecting patterns for the frescoing. As an incen- 
tive to the work, a new bell had been generously given by Mr. 
Francis C. Sessions of Columbus, Ohio. The outside of the 
house was painted and a new walk laid in front of the church 
from funds intended originally for the purchase of a bell. 
Subscriptions were made in money, the Ladies' Society gave 
their aid, lumber and work were donated, and with new car- 
pets, re-upholstering of furniture, re-covered doors, and, not 
least, the chandelier given by Mr. Lucius Beebe and his family, 
the church was given the form in which you see it to-day. 
(Cost, $750.43.) 

How great is the difference between this neat, glassed, and 
well-heated building and the meeting-house of your fathers 
which stood on the green, with its boarded windows, its hard 
seats, with no fire even in the coldest weather! How many 
changes external and internal there have been! 

And now it becomes me to speak of one whose life ex- 
tended through all these changes but the last ; one who loved 
the church very dearly and made his own life tell in her prog- 
ress, Sumner Sessions. 

He was bom on the 29tli of December, 1797, between 
Christmas and ISTew Year's, a goodly gift to the church and the 
community. Baptized by Mr. Warren and brought under the 
influence of Christian home and church training, he became 
converted and united with the church in 1820. 

Such was his nature that everything to him was positive. 



48 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

When he said " I believe/' he meant it through and through. 
Others might not have strong convictions upon certain re- 
ligious matters; he must. Others might swerve from their 
convictions; he never. So that from the first he became a 
strong-faithed Christian, and the power of his convictions 
made him an earnest worker. In the revival of 1822 he was 
ever active, and so great was the confidence of the church in 
him that it chose him deacon Avith Mr. Morris on the 31st of 
January, 1823, at the age of twenty-five years. 

The picture which these young men make for us is not one 
often met with in church annals, I think. Deacons of the 
church, the one twenty-five years old, the other thirty-three, 
differently constituted by nature, and yet always the warmest 
friends; of the same school of religious belief, and thus 
through life a double power for the maintenance of the 
chui'ch's faith. 

Mr. Sessions was called " a true Puritan of the Crom- 
wellian stamp," which, if I understand the term, means no 
compromise ^^dth heresy or with evil. Of a given measure, 
the question he asked himself was, "Is it right?" If 
answered negatively, it received his unqualified resistance; if 
aflarmatively, his zealous, outspoken support. With this 
strength of conviction was united a real humility. He was 
neither " boastful nor haughty." 

The strength he showed " was the strength which comes 
from reliance on God " ; and that God-given power made itself 
felt in the home, in the church, in the w^orld. 

On the 3d of May, 1879, after a deaconship of fifty-six 
years, he was excused, at his own request, from active service. 
In the fall of that year, though still erect in form, his health 
began serious to fail. On Sunday, the 18th of January, 1880, 
when his strength was fast going, he was assisted to the bed, 
and as he lay down he said : " I lie down now to rise again at 
the last great day." 

The three score years and ten had lengthened into the 
eighty and three, but though the Angel of Death had so long 
stayed his coming, the church and the world, and they who 
loved him best, would fain have held him back to the sphere of 
life he so materially influenced for good. 

Let us cherish his memory vn\h the fullness Avith which we 
appreciate his faith and work. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



49 



Five months after the resignation of Mr. Koot, which took 
effect the 1st of January, 1884, the church gathered May 28th 
to ordain and install the third and last of its '" Edwards." 

In the year and more which has elapsed since then I have 
but to record your act of revising the church membership, 
which makes it possible to say that all the members are ac- 
counted for, either as residents, as preferring to retain their 
membership here, though living elsewhere, or as placed upon 
a retired list because no clue can be gained to their places of 
residence. 

To record also your change of covenant, in which you have 
sought a warmer expression of love to those you receive, and 
added your engagement to hold and promote cordial fellow- 
ship with the members of sister churches of the common Head, 
" that the Lord may be one and his name one in his churches 
throughout all generations." 

Here my story of your past closes. All too poorly I feel it 
has been told. 

While prominent facts could be stated and figures given, 
it must needs be that the individual consecration of heart, the 
self-sacrifice and intense effort of life uniting to make possible 
those facts and results expressed in figures should remain un- 
written by reason of their multitude and the limits of the hour. 

As we turn the page of the past and begin a new century 
of church life there are some voices speaking out of the past 
which we shall do well to heed. 

The first is of a changed relationship between the church 
and a part of its constituency. In 1785 the parish officer col- 
lected by law from every man in the parish for the support of 
one church; 1885 finds four churches and many people who 
are not connected with any. The right which the early settler 
demanded of worshiping icJiere he chose, the ^dllager has 
now extended into a hoiv he chooses. 

The century has taught that men cannot be whipped into 
the church by legal thongs, but must be drawn in by a law 
affecting the heart. 

The church has, then, to determine her attitude towards all 
denominations and consider how to reach the hearts of the un- 
believing. That which differentiates denominations, that 
which differentiates Christians and non-Christians, is primarily 
difference of belief. The work of the centurv to come is, I 



50 IIISTOEICAL ADDRESS 

think, to bring all men nearer to an outward union by means 
of an inward unity. This unity wall come according as men 
approach nearer to Christ in fullness of knowledge and full- 
ness of faith. 

To my thought, compromise of belief does not increase the 
unity of St. Paul's standard. Therefore the denominational 
attitude of the church should be based on a fidelity to her own 
convictions of faith, at the same time exercising the largest 
charity to those of a different belief; striving herself and 
urging others to strive for the complete knoioledge wliich is of 
the one Christ; realizing, too, that all churches are one in a 
union against sin, and in the pointing unbelievers to the 
Saviour. 

The power of the church, too, in its individual desire to 
touch the hearts of unbelieving men, begins in its definite be- 
lief and the consequent action. The preaching of Mr. ]!^ettle- 
ton and the life of Mr. Warren emphasize this. The re- 
vivalist said, "The moment a man dies his eternal state is 
fixed.'' This is a very definite statement; it shows that he 
walked easily where many to-day find themselves compelled to 
feel their way step by step. This one statement is easily 
matched by others in sermons on many different subjects. 
They all reveal a man of profoundly definite convictions, and 
by such preaching he persuaded men to believe. It is the his- 
tory of this church that those converted under his preaching- 
have been strong, unwavering, useful (Christians; and I am 
sure that the same is true elsewhere. 

The life of Mr. Warren, so remarkably pure, was in keep- 
ing with such a definite belief. Mr. Xettleton preached to the 
converting of men, and he did it here, and that is the very 
thing laid before us: to live a blameless life ourselves and per- 
suade men to be ^^^th us imitators of the Christ. The past 
has left us as a real legacy, goodly belief, and we have made it 
the expression of our faith, and by God's hel]) we can make it 
more the regailator of our lives. 

So far, then, our task is plain, and the instruments to suc- 
cess in our hands; let us be A^ase enougli not to carelesslv put 
them out. 

And now to this, the past adds one voice more. It comes 
from the days of 1822, it speaks from those of 1856, when 
the church was brought to better tliought and renewed con- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



61 



secration; it tells in our ears the words, " Seek the Presence 
and Power of the Holy Spirit." 

The Spirit who was the divine instrument in first bringing 
the natural order out of chaos ; who in man's powerful struggle 
with sin, taught man to hope in a Messiah through whom he 
should be victorious; the Spirit, the promise of whose coming 
was the consoling blessing of the departing Master to his 
troubled disciples; and whose actual coming with Pentecostal 
fire bore witness to the reinstating in glory of the crucified 
but risen Christ, and pierced men's hearts with deep convic- 
tion of sin. 

This Spirit who in the ages of the church ever since has 
been the effective agent of God; who in this place moved the 
hearts of the children and the youth, and they of mature years, 
to an overwhelming sense of sin, and then led them to the 
Christ to find forgiveness. 

This Spirit, if we want him, will be our helper in the years 
to come. 

Brethren, as we close these pages, the door of the future 
opens. Say not," it is an unkno^vn land; for the Divine Light 
is shining into it; the Father's Hand is held ready to lead us; 
and when our work is done, with those the story of whose lives 
has now been told, we also shall find place in the " Church of 
the First-Bora enrolled in Heaven," and shall add our voices 
to the mighty choras saying, " Worthy is the lamb that hath 
been slain, to receive power and riches, and wisdom and might, 
and honor and glory and blessing." 

Unto Him be the glory of our salvation; unto him be the 
dominion universal, forever and forever. Amen. 



]SrOTES. 

Note " A" 

The petition for the division of the town was as folh)ws: 

To the Town of Wilbraliam assembled in ToAvn meeting on ye 20th 
of July instant A. D. 1772. 

Gentlemen, the subscriber desires audience in the name and behalf 
of those in the South part of the Town of Wilbraliam who have peti- 
tioned said Town to consent that they (with others included witliin 
ye limits petitioned for) be incorporated into a Town and liave ye 
priviled^es by law allowed such a liody. While he shall honestly tho' 
breafly give ye reason for such desire, Avith the iucouras'ement youi' 
liumbie petitioners have to seek such a priviledge. And as to our 
Reasons for desiring such a priviledge for oui'selves. 'tis not any dis- 
satisfaction with our Rev. Pastors, or offence taken with ye cch 
or authority of ye Town, no Private Piques, grudge, or ill Avill at 
any; but purely that we & our Families may enjoy a preached Gospel 
which \\e esteem among ye greatest of priviledgesi; our distance from 
meeting is so great, ye season for a great part of ye year dithcult & 
we so unable to Keep Horses & Furnitui-e, that it is truly ye Case 
that for ye greatest part of our Families are obliged to stay at home. 
We have several hundred souls within ye Limits petitioned for & but 
a small part of them do or can attend public worship. And well 
knowing what a tendency staying from Public Worship has to in- 
dispose people thereto; and make them easy without it & yet how 
much depends thereon, as 'tis the appointed means of Salvation, 'tis 
a continual great to us that so many in our families are obliged to 
stay at home on Sabbath days. »S: our great fear is that by this means 
they forgit Sabbath Sanctificatiou. & grow cold to ye AVorship of 
God. This is our principle motive &: we doubt not but you our 
Fathers will think it laudable and will feel a tender concern for us 
and our poor Families while under those circumstances. But aac 
doubt not your Paternal Care for us. yet we fear yt you will think 
yt our poverty forbids us to think of Supporting ye Gospel & you to 
ineourage us in such an undertaking. We beg leave therefore to in- 
form you. for your incouragement & our own yt we have 47 Families 
within ye T^imits asked for, as less numbers have sometimes sui>- 
ported ye Gospel — and when a people honestly venter for ye Cause 
of Religion Ave believe they may Expect a blessing. Further Ave 
have 20 young men Rated among us — a great deal of unimproved 
land yt is in itself capable of profitable Improvement. This incour- 
agement we have Exclusive of Wales (as 'tis called) Avhich borden 
upon us (fc we are in hopes may be annexed to u.s, Avhich Avill be a 
very considerable help. If you our Fathers should object yt our Avant 
of linion in ye principles of Religion is to you discouraging, Ave would 
say yt we knoAV yt unity is ye strength »S; beauty of a Peoph^ & Ave 
desire nothing more than to be one in Faith and Profession, in Love 
practice and consecration & Wherein this is not ye case we do truly 



NOTES 



53 



Lament it, «fe are fixedly determined to study ye tilings yt make for 
peace and whereby we may edify one another — But we pray it may 
be Remembered yt at this day most Towns and Societies have male- 
contents in them, yt we in this are not singular. Further it deserves 
to be considered Avhether we are not more Likly to have peace (&. 
upon good grounds too) while we are in a Laudable way striving to 
advance ye peaceful Kingdom of ye Redeemer, amongst us, than we 
should be to sit still? We cannot but hope yt ye setting up of ye Gos- 
l^el among us & building ye House of God in this place will happily 
make us of one heart and one way! yt with one mouth we may glorify 
God — Thus Fathers, we have briefly given you our reasons and in- 
couragements which we pray you duly to consider, & we doubt not 
but you will favour your humble petitioners in ye thing for which we 
continue to pi"ay as in duty bound. Asa Chaffee 

in the name and behalf of others. 

Note " 5." 

The first announcement made for preaching and building the 
meeting-house was made January 29, 1783, and was as follows: 

To the Committee for the South Parish in Wilbraham. 

These may certify that the subscribers have assessed the Polls 
and Estates of the Inhabitants of the South Parish in Wilbraham 
in the sums hereafter named and have committed them to Zadok 
Stebbins and Daniel Carpenter, Constables, with wan-ant to collect 
the same, and have ordered them to pay the same to John Bliss Esq 
Treasurer for sd Parish by the first day of March next — viz 
To hii'e Preaching in sd Parish in the sum of .... £20. 7. 8. 
For Building Meeting House in sd Parish ye sum of . 103 1. 3 

£123. 8. 11. 
Wilbraham, Januaiy 29, 1783. 

Noah Stebbins 
Enoch Burt 
Tho' King 
Assessors of the South Parish in Wilbraham. 

Note " C." 

Wilbraham June 9, 1783. 
We the subscribers for value Received promis to pay Comfort 
Chaffee for & in behalf of the South Parish of Wilbraham the sum 
of four pounds Ten shillings on Demand with interest till paid wit- 
ness our hands, 

David Burt, 
Robert Sessions, 
Thos King, 
Lewis Langdon. 

Note " D." 

To Zadok Stebbins, Constable, 

Sir, Please Pay Lieut Noah Stebbins and Lieut Thomas King and 
Moses Stebbins or either of them, a committee to hire preaching in 
the South Parish of Wilbraham, the sum of five pounds nine shillings 
and eight pence and this shall discharge you so much of the Minis- 
ters Rate committed to you to collect, £5.-9-8 

John Bliss, Parish Ti'easurer 
Wilbraham Jany 12th, 1784. 



54 



NOTES 



Wilhrahain. IMarcli 1st, 1784. 

To r)aiu(»l Carpenter, Constable, Sir, Bepleased to pay Lieut Saml 
Sexton and Capt Paul I.angdon, a coramitteo to Hire Preacliing, four 
rounds six shillings & nine pence two fartliings and this Recipt shall 
discharge you so much of the Ministers Rate committed to you to col- 
lect. John Bi.iss Treasurer. 



Note " £." 

To Stei)lieu Stebbins, Constable. Sir, be pleased to pay to the 
several persons the sums affixed to their names, viz. 

To David Kurt 

To Calvin Stebbins. 

To Asa Chaffee 

To Comfort Chaffee 

To Abner Chapin 

To David Burt, Lewis Langdon. Tlionias, King. 

Robert Sessions and Asa Chaffee, the committee 

for superintending the building the meeting 

House, the sum of 



£1 


10: 





1 


0: 








12: 








14: 








1: 


3 



£10: 10. 7. 2 
And this Receipt shall Discharge you so much 

John Bliss, Parish Treasurer 
Wilbraham Mhch 19, 1784. 

Legal meeting of the South Parish in Wilbraham March 28. 1786. 
Voted and Granted to Capt. Paul Langdon and Lieut Samll Sexton 
six shillings for carrying Grain to Springfield in pay for Preaching. 

Legal meeting of the South Parish in Wilbraham April 9. 1787. 
Voted and Granted to Lieut Samll Sexton Three shillings for going 
after preacher. 

Attest MosES Stebbins Junr Clerk 
Wilbraham Nov. 21st 1787. 



Note " F." 

Occasionally the treasurer of the parish was obliged to borrow 
money, and genei-ally by giving his note, as in the following in- 
stance: 

Wilbraham. October 25, 1784. 

I for value Reed of Edward Morris for the use of the South Parish 
in Wilbraham the sum of Four Pounds Lawful silver money, which 
sum I promise for myself and successor in the office of Treasurer 
of the South Parish in Wilbraham to Pay to said Edward Morris or 
his order on demand with interest till as witness my hand, 

David Burt, Treasurer. 
Note " G." 

The following named persons were members of the church at the 
ordination of INIr. Warren — sixty-five in number: 



Sarah Abbe, 
John Bliss, 
Abial (Colton) Bliss, 
David Burt, 



Enoch Burt, 

Joseph Bumpstead, '' 

Ruth Beebe (probably wife of 
Samuel), 



NOTES 



55 



Joel Chaffee, 

John Chaffee, 

Mehitable (Mascraft) Chaffee, 

Simeon Chaffee, 

Love (Davis) Cliaffee. 

Jonathan Cliaffee, 

Hepzibah Chalfee, 

Olive Chaffee, wife of Jonathan, 

Mehitable Chaffee, 2d. 

Rowland Crocker, 

Miriam Crocker, 

Elizabeth Chapin, 

Thomas Davis, 

Sarah Davis, 

John Firmin, 

Rebecca Hntchinson, 

John Hitchcock, 

Thankful (Burt) Hitchcock, 

Lucy (King) Jones, wife of Isaac, 

William King, 

Abigail King, 

Eunice King. 

Paul Langdon, 

Thankful (Stebbins) Langdon, 

John Langdon, 

Thomas Lewis, 

Mai*y Lewis, 

Sarah Morris, widow of Isaac, 

Darius Morris, 



Edward Morris, 

Lucy (Bliss) Morris, 

Joseph Mason, 

Timothy Patterson. 

Elizabeth Patterson. 

Mary Palmer, 

Ezekiel Russell. 

Tabitha (Flint) Russell, 

Hannah Russell, wife of Ezekiel 

Russell, Jr., 
Samuel Sexton, 
Sarah Sexton, 
William Stacy, 
Anna Stacy, wife of William, 
Aaron Stebbins, 
jNIoses Stebbins, 
Hannah (Hale) Stebbins, wife of 

Moses, Jun., 
Moses Stebbins, Jun., 
Esther Stebbins, daughter of 

Moses, 
Noah Stebbins, 
Margaret Stebbins, wife of 

Noah, 
Eldad Stebbins, 
Anna, Stebbins, wife of Eldad, 
Zadok Stebbins, 
Elizabeth (Pease) Stebbins. wife 

of Zadok. 



Note " //." 



DEACON HITCHCOCK. 



Deacon John Hitchcock was the son of John Hitchcock of Spring- 
field, and was born April 21, 1722. He was a descendant of Luke 
Hitchcock, an early settler of Wethersfleld, who came from Fenny 
Compton. County of Essex, Eng. 

Deacon Hitchcock married Thankful Burt. May. 1743. He was 
a soldier in the Revolution, serving at the time of the Lexington 
Alarm and afterwards in Captain Warriner's company, at Saratoga. 
His wife died July 17. 1800. He died October 11. 1807. He possessed 
great physical strength. It was said of him that he could outrun a 
horse, turn over a haycart, and lift a load of hay. He had a doulile 
row of teeth, sound at the time of his death. He could hold a ten- 
penny nail and break it off with his teeth. He said he did not know 
a man he could not whip or run away from. 



Note " /." 

There is more light on this matter than Dr. Stebbins supposed. 
The fact was that it was brought in some way before the Southern 
Association of Ministei-s, the i*ecord of which is as follows: 

The Southern Association of Ministers, in the County of Hamp- 
shire, being convened at the house of the Rev. Ebenezer Gay. D.D.. 
on Tuesday, Oct. 14. 1794, Mr. John Williams, member of the Church 
of Christ in the South Parish of Wilbraham, appeared before the as- 
sociation requesting their opinion in certain matters of difficulty be- 



66 



NOTES 



tween him and said churcli. From authentic documents it appeared 
that all matters had been previously considered by a mutual council 
which resulted in his favor. After attendinjj to the matter the as- 
sociation are free in the opinion that the church ought to receive Mr. 
Williams to their friendly communion upon that result of council, 
and that they have acted an inconsistent part in first voting to for- 
give their brother and then revoking their forgiveness. The asso- 
ciation further observe that they are willing to admit Mr. Williams 
to communion in their respective churches should opportunity oc- 
casionally present. Ebenezer Gay, ^Moderator. 
Suffieki, Oct. 14th, 1794. J. F. M. 

While the matter of Mr. Williams' standing in the church was 
pending, he entered a complaint against Elisha Woodward, the 
keeper of the village store. 

To the Honourable John Bliss, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace 
for the County of Hampshire. 

Hampshire, s.s. 
John Williams, of Wilbraham, in said county yeoman, cvmiplains 
and informs your Honour that Elisha Woodward of said Wilbraham, 
Shop Keeper, on the Eighth day of Jany instant did utter profane 
oaths or curses, one of them to the following effect, " The infei'nal 
cuss, John Williams I mean, if I had him out of the New England 
states, by G— d I would horse Avhip him," all which is contrary to 
Law and against the Peace of this Commonwealth. Your com- 
plainant therefore prays your Honour to issue your AvaiTant to the 
apprehending of the said Elisha, that he may be tried before ycjur- 
self or some other Justice of the Peace that he may be made to do 
and suffer as to Law and justice appertains and your complainant 
as in duty bound shall ever pray. John Williams. 

Wilbraham 8th of January 1794. 

The Avrit was issued and served by Jonathan Chaffee, constable, 
and Comfort Chaffee, Thomas King, and Lieutenant .Jonathan 
Chaffee were summoned to appear and give evidence. 

Mr. Williams' efforts in sustaining order did not end with the trial 
of Mr. Woodward. A few weeks later he entered the following com- 
plaint: 

To John Blivss Esq one of the Justices of the Peace in and for tlie 
County of Hampshire and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
John Williams of Wilbraham, in sd county, yeoman, complains 
in beiialf of the Commonwealth and gives your Honor to be informed 
that I'hoebe Barton of Wilbraham in sd county, spinster, at sd Wil- 
brahauL on the ninth day of March last past, being Lords Day. did 
with force and arms within the walls of a House of Public Worship 
then and there behave rudely and indecently to the great disturbance 
of your complainant and divers good subjects of the Commonwealth 
and their statutes in such case made and provided — wherefore your 
complainant prays the sd Phoebe may be brought before your Honor 
to answer to the sd complaint and be dealt with as to Law and Justice 
appertains. Johin' Williams. 

Wilbraham 10th of April 1794. 

The writ was issued, Phoebe Avas summoned to appear before a 
Justice of the Peace to answer the complaint, and Lydia Willey, 
Frank Patterson, and Fanny Chaffee summoned as witnesses. The 
result doc^ not appear. J. F. M. 



NOTES 57 

Note " /." 

Contract for finishing the meeting-house: 

Wilbraham 20th November 1791. 

We the subscribers jointly and severally obligate ourselves and 
stand firmly Bound by these present unto Comfort Chaffee, Steward 
Beebe, Robert Sessions, Stephen West, and David Burt, the sd Parish 
Committee for the consideration of two hundred forty-six pounds 
fifteen shillings to finish and complete the Meeting house in sd Parish 
(except glazing) in the following manner. To furnish materials, and 
clabboard the outside with good white Pine quarter boards, in a 
proper manner, suitable, with not exposing the clabboards more than 
31/^ Inches with a proper Coating at each side and turned at each cor- 
ner, likewise outside to be painted the Body of it, thus with three 
coats, the first time with three quarters of it with Spanish 
white and the rest white lead mixed with good linseed oil. 
The Roof to be painted twice with Spanish brown mixed with 
linseed oil. The Inside thus with a Pulpit and Canopy equal: 
in goodness with those of Somers Meeting House, and the walls 
to be sealed around as high as the windows and lathed and plastered 
above the seating, to make in the lower part twenty nine pews with 
raising on the ground on the walls eight inches and Body five Inches, 
to make two pair of stairs with stair case with six pillars to support 
the Galleries, to make as many pews by the walls of the Galleries as 
is convenient equal to those of Somers M. house. Pew ground to be 
of suitable hight and the remainder of the galleries to be filled with 
seats as many as maybe with a decent brest work before the galleries 
to paint sd pulpit Canopy brest work and pillars of sd house 
common to such purpose in such buildings equal tO' Summors 
M. house, to seal the walls of sd galleries up to the windows and lath 
and plaster all above and overhead including under galleries with 
whitewashing the same. Every Branch of sd house to be completed 
in a workmanlike manner as wainscotting &c suitable for such build- 
ings with plainness and neatness. 

Ttie contents of this Instrument comprehends finishing sd house 
(except glazing) to the turn of the Key all with simplicity and neat- 
ness the whole to be completed in twelve Months from Date. 

Witness our hands 
,„. j Aaron Stebbins, Eltsha Woodward, 

Witnesses, ^ Jason Downer, Ichabod Bliss, 

REV. MOSES WARREN. 

Mr. Warren married Lydia, daughter of Colonel John Bliss. The 
exact date of the marriage is not of record, but the intention of mai-- 
riage was published September 8, 1788. Their children were: Moses. 
born Januai-y 10, 1790, was graduated at Williams College in 1811: he 
went South, and died near New Orleans at the age of thirty-six. 
Lydia, born April 18. 1792; married Rev. Levi Smith. She died Sep- 
tember 5, 1875. .Jolm Bliss Warren, born :May 20. 1794. was gradu- 
ated at Brown University in 1815. He studied for the ministry. He 
went to the South. For sevei'al years he was a missionary of the 
Presbyterian Church in Mobile. He afterwards preached in 
T>ouisiana. and. subseqiiently, established a school or college near 
New Orleans. He established the first Protestant paper in Louisiana. 
Aaron Warren, born May 30, 1794, died May 19, 1851. He was a 
farmer. He married Elizabeth Stacy. 



58 NOTES 

A few anecdotes of Mr. Warren are extant. On one occasion lie 
exchauitrecl with the minister at Somers, Conn. It was on the Sunday 
before Tlianlvssivin.u-. Mr. Warren rea<l tlie proclamation of the Con- 
necticut .uovcnior. and then, unmindful of locality, he uttered the 
benediction wliich he was accustomed to use at home, " God save the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts." 

Mr. Warren's family govemment was of a mild kind. The rod, so 
prevalent in his time, was seldom used by him. and the lack of the 
use of it sometimes broiight cases of disobedience. He one day en- 
tertained a neighboring ministei", and attempted to do so in the cus- 
tomary way. "John," said he to one of his boys, "take a pitcher 
and go down cellar and draw some cider." " I won't," said .Tohn. 
Turning to his guest to apologize for John's behavior, he said: " John 
is a vei-y good boy generally, but he has a bad cold just now." It is to 
be presumed that the guest did not go away without the cider. John 
recovered from his cold in due time. He became obedient to a higlier 
command, and entered the gospel ministiy. 

COLONEL JOHN BLISS. 

Thomas Bliss, a native of Belstone, Devonshire, Eng., who was 
born probably between the years 1580 and 1585, came to Boston in 
1G35. He removed to Hartford before 1G39, and with his oldest son 
Thomas settled on land in the vicinity of the present Lafayette and 
Oak streets, directly south of the present State Capitol grounds. He 
had five sons and four daughters. He died in 1640. Thomas, the 
son, removed to Saybrook and fi-om there to Norwich. His widow, 
Margaret (Whose maiden name is supposed to have been Lawrence), 
with her sons, Nathaniel, Lawrence, Samuel, and John, removed to 
Springfield in 1G43, where she died August 28, 1G84, aged ninety. 

Nathaniel Bliss., the second son, married Catherine, daughter of 
Deacon Samuel Chapin of Springfield. He died November 8, 1()54. 
He had four children: Samuel, born November 7, 1647; Margaret, 
born November 12, 1649, died April, 1745, aged ninety-six; Mary, 
born September 23, 1651; Nathaniel, bom INIarch 27, 1653, died De- 
cember 23, 1736. aged eighty-three. 

Widow Catherine Bliss married 2d, Thomas Gilbert, and had four 
childien. Thomas Gilbert died in 1662, and she again married in 1664 
Samuel Marshfield, and had four children. She died in 1712. Samuel 
Bliss, son of Nathaniel, married July 2, 1(>72. Sa?-ah Stebbins, daugh- 
ter of Lieutenant Thomas Stebbins, Springfield, who was born in 
England in 1620, and died in 1683. Sarah Stebbins was born in 16.54. 
and died in 1726. They had nine children, Samuel, Nathaniel, Sarah. 
Alargaret. Thomas, Hannah, John, Samuel, and Ebenezer. 

Samuel Bliss lived in Longmeadow. He died June 19, 1739. aged 
nearly one lumdred and two years, and was said to have nine chil- 
dren, thirty-eight grandchildren, one hundred and fourteen great- 
grandcliildren, and ten great, great grandchildren. He was said to 
have possessed great physical strength. The story is told of him 
he cauglit a deer while swimming in the Connecticut River, and held 
its head under the water until it was drowned. 

John Bliss, fourth son of Samuel, marned Lydia Pease of Sunder- 
land. He died in Longmeadow, October 8, 1784, nearly ninety- 
four. His wife died February 29, 1760, aged sixty-five. They had 
two children: 

John, born February 1, 1727. 

Aaron, born May 3, 1730, died February 1, 1810; aged eighty. 



NOTES 



59 



Colonel John Bliss man-led November 8, 1749, Abiel, (laughter of 
.Toslah and Margaret (Pease) Colton. She was a descendant of 
" (Quartermaster " George Colton, one of the early settlers of Spring- 
field and the first planter in Longmeadow. In 1747 he bought lots 117 
and 118 in the " Fourth Precinct," and about 1750 he settled on this 
land, which lay on the " middle road," south of the Scantic River, 
about three-fourths of a mile up the hill. To this he made subse- 
quent additions. He was a farmer and trader. He was a self-taught 
man, possessed of high native talents, and was a man of great in- 
fluence. He was a soldier in the French war. In 1773 he was chosen 
to represent the district in the General Court, and again the next 
year, the last Provincial General Court. He was an ardent whig 
in the Revolution. 

He was chosen to the three Provincial Congresses, and served on 
important committees. On the 8th of April, 1775, he was sent as com- 
missioner to Connecticut to request that colony to co-operate with 
Massachusetts in the raising and establishing an army for the gen- 
eral defense. After the battle of Lexington he was sent again. He 
continued to be a representative until the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion in 1780. He had held the ofllce of major, and Febrxiary 8, 1776, 
was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the militia. October 7, 1777, he 
was appointed colonel of the first Hampshire County regiment. He 
served some time in ^Vestchester County. He was the only field 
officer which Wilbraham furnished during the war. He was chosen 
to the Senate under the first Constitution, and several times re- 
elec-ted. In 1780 he was chosen executive councillor. He had early 
been appointed a justice of the peace by the House of Representa- 
tives and Council before the adoption of the Constitution. He was 
appointed by Governor Hancock a judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas. In person. Colonel Bliss was tall and spare and of light com- 
plexion. His wife was short and of light complexion. She died Sep- 
tember 30, 1803. They had the following children: 

Oliver, born September 15, 1751, died January 13, 1756; aged six 
years. 

Lydia. born :May 0. 1752, died June 29. 1755, and was the first per- 
son buried in the burial ground in South Wilbraham. 

Lydia. born June 19, 1756: married Rev. Moses Warren. 

Abiel, b. June 1, 1758: m. Josiah Cooley of Longmeadow. 

Lucy, b. March 1, 1761, d. March 31, same month. 

Lucy, b. IMarch 28, 1762; m. Edward Morris March 28, 1782. 

Mrs! Bliss died September 30. 1803. A year afterward, September 
10, 1804, Colonel Bliss maiTied INIrs. Sarah (Chaffee) IMorris, widow of 
Isaac Morris and mother of Edward INIorris, who had married his 
daughter Lucy twenty-one years before. He was then in his seventy- 
seventh year, and she in her seventy-sixth. He died November 8. 
1809, aged nearly eighty-three. Mrs. Bliss survived him nearly nine 
years, and died April 21, 1818, aged eighty-nine. 



BURT FAMILY. 

Heni-j^ Burt, the ancestor of the Burt family, was first in Rox- 
hury. In 1640 he removed to Springfield, where he was appointed 
clerk of the writs, or town clerk. He died April 30, l(i62. His wife's 
name was LTlalia. She died August 29, 1690. They had ten children, 
two sons and eight daughters. The sous were Jonathan and 
Nathaniel. 



60 



NOTES 



Nathauiel married Rebecca Sykes. Jan. 15, 1662. They had eight 
cliihlren. of wlioin David, born in 1(t(;S. died July 5. 1735. mamed 
Martha Hale of Kntield, January 27. 1706. Tliey had five children, 
of whom Captain David, born An,u:nst 20. 1701), died July 5. 1735. mar- 
ried Sarali Colton. Se])tember 5, 1732. They had twelve children, of 
whom were: 

David, b. Novendjer 5, 1736, d. July 6, 1809. 

Enoch, b. October 3. 1742, died March 29, 1S09. botli of whom 
settled in Soutli Wilbi-aham and became members of the church. 

David Burt married Mary Colton, March 1. 1758. They had: 

Solomon, b. I'^ebruary 1. 1759, d. ;May 7. 1777: Calvin, b. Sei)teniber 

14, 17(51: Flavia, b. :\larcli 12. 1764, d. 1787. m. Field; Abijrail, b. 

April 27. 17(;7. m. Zebulon Betts of Richmond: Mary, b. June 18. 1769, 
m. Eliakim Williams: Jerusha. b. Xovendier 11. 1771. d. .Fanuary 20. 
1775: Sarah, b. January 27, 1774. m. William Williams: Jerusha. b. 
.January 20. 1782, m. Rev. Hubbell Loomis. 

Enoch Burt married Eunice Stebbins. November 28. 1766. They 
had Walter, b. October 20. 17(57; Eunice, b. July 18, 1770; Enoch. 1). 
. Eunice the mother died ISIay 7. 178(5, and Enoch the father mar- 
ried again. Mary Stacy, who died in childbirth. He married again. 
Thankful Skinner of Woodstock, and had Calvin, b. November 10. 
1780: Lathrop. b. April 11. 1782; William, b. May 26. 1784. 

THE CHAFFEE FAMILY. 

Thomas Chaffee, who was at Hingham in 1637, was the ancestor 
of the Chaffee family. In 1(5(50 he removed to Swansea. He had two 
sons, Nathaniel and Joseph, the dates of Avhose births are not known. 

Joseph Chaft'ee mai'ried Anne Martin of Rehoboth. They had 
two sons and five daughters, of whom 

John Chaffee, b. September 16. 1673, married Sarah Hills of [Mai- 
den, July 17. 17(X). They had five sons: 

Joel ChafTee, b. 1702, d. June 20. 1745. unmarried. 

Ebenezer Chaffee, b. September 22. 1704. 

Joseph Chaffee, b. January 17. 170(5. 

Hezekiah Chaffee, b. April 19. 1708. d. October 27. 1730. 

John Chaffee, b. Februarv 10. 1707, m. Mehitable Mascroft. April 
14. 1730. 

Mrs. Sarah Chaffee died at Woodstock Apnl 17. 1735. John Chaffee 
(the father) then married, in September or October. 1735. Elizabeth 
Hayward. He died December 2. 1757, aged eighty-five. Mrs. Eliza- 
beth ChaiTee died February 5. 1760. aged eighty-seven. Josepli 
Chaffee married Hannah May, daughter of Ephraim May of 
Rehoboth. He removed from Barrington to Woodstock in 1729. He 
settled in West Woodstock. He filled various offices in Woodstock, 
was influential in the meetings of that parish, and the establishing 
of the church. About 1754 he removed to Wilbraham (then Spi-lng- 
field) and settled in the district of " Wales." His farm extended 
from Ball ^lountain to the Brimfield (Mass.) line. He died of small- 
pox March 15. 1760. His widow married P^nsign .Toiseph Sexton, and 
died May 2(5, 1784. in her eighty-fourth year. They had: 

Sarah, b. June 18, 1729. in Barrington. 

Joseph, b. January 9. 1731, in Woodstock. 

Benjamin, b. July 10, 1732. 

Ephraim, b. 1733. 

Asa, b. .Tune 5. 1734. 

Jonathan, b. March 11, 1735-6, d. July 21, 1737. 



NOTES 61 

Comfort, b. ISIarcli 20, 1737-8. 

Isaiah, b. April 5, 1740. 

Hannah, b. June 7, 1742. 

Darius, b. May 13, 1744. 

Joel, b. February 16, 1740. 

Joseph Chaffee, first son of Joseph, b. January 9, 1731, married 
Esther Chaffee. He is said to have died in Union, Conn. They had 
a daughter, Anne, b. May 6, 1776. 

Benjamin Chaffee, second son of Joseph, b. July 10, 1732, married 
Hannah Sliinner of Woodstock. They removed there. She died in 

1811. 

Ephraim Chaffee, third son of Joseph, b. . 1733, married 

Anna Torrey of Woodstock. He was killed by Indians at Lake 
George in 17*57. They had a daughter, Sarah, b. ]March 26, 1758. 

Isaiah Chaffee, seventh son of Joseph, married Betsy Manning, 
:klarch 5, 1752. 

Darius Chaffee, eighth son of Joseph, married :Molly Chaffee. No- 
vember 11, 1775. They had Heniy, b. November 16. 1776. 

Simeon Chaffee, son of Joel, married Love Davis of Somers; pub- 
lished October 19, 1765. They had: 

Locea. b. October 2. 17(U). 

Simeon, b. September 10, 1776. 

Noah, b. October 30, 1778. 

Simeon Chaffee, died April 13, 1824. aged eighty-eight. 

Asa Chaffee, fourth son of Joseph, man'ied Mary Hewlett of 
Woodstock, September 5, 1753. They had: 

Jonathan, b. 1754. 

Weslev, b. January 29, 1756. 

Cerrel', b. May 19, 1758. 

Ephraim. b. August 12, 1760. 

Martha, b. May 18, 1761, d. June 29, 1762. 

Luther, b. October 10, 1764. 

Calvin, b. June 11. 1766. 

Miriam, b. September 13, 1768. 

.Jemima, b. September 13, 1770. 

Abiathar, b. December 5, 1774. 

Walter, b. August 7, 1775. 

Comfort Chaffee, sixth son of Joseph, married Mary, daughter of 
Nathaniel Bliss. They had: 

Lucretia. b. June 27, 1760. 

Jklarv, b. April 8, 1758. 

Bathsheba, b. June 19, 1762. married Stephen West. 

Mary. b. June 29, 1765. 

Joel, b. September 27, 1770. 

Nathaniel Bliss, b. December 14, 1772. 

Comfort Chaffee died June 14, 1811. 

WILLIAM KING. 

William King came to Wilbraham from Springfield. He settled 
in the South Parish, on the spot where the Congregational Church 
now stands. He made his first purchase of land in 1744, and con- 
tinued the purchase of adjoining land until he became one of the 
largest, if not the largest, land-owners in the south part of the town. 
He sold to the parish the land on which the meeting-house was built. 
He married Jemima Bliss, June 11, 1742. They had: 

William, b. 

Thomas, b. 



62 NOTES 

Solomon, b. Fobniary 7, 1748. 

Jeniima, b. July 4, 1750. 

Lucy. b. Nov. 19, 1752, niaiTied Isaac Jones. 

Luther, b. :\Iarch 22, 1755. 

Louisa, b. December 7, 1756, died September. 1758. 

AValter. b. November, 1758. 

Hosea, b. March 28, 1701. 

At the outbieak of the Revolution he served as lieutenant at tlie 
Lexington Alarn). He Avas one of the town committee of cori-e- 
spondence and safety. His son Solomon entei'ed the army and died 
in 1775. ]\Ir. Kinj? sold his property to .Jonathan Dwij^lit of Spring- 
field. April 7. 1784. Dwight sold it to .Jason Downer in 1701. In 
1793 Downei" sold it to .James Utley, and in 1797 T'tley sold it to 
Jonathan J'lynt of Hardwick — the two exchanjjing- properties. 
Jonathan Flynt also boufjht a privilege on the Scantic. just Ijelow 
the present bridge, and set up a fulling mill, which is believed to have 
been the first attempt at cloth manufacturing in Will)raham. In 
1807 he sold the mill property to his son Jonathan, and in 1809 sold 
his residence property to his son Levi, and removed to INIonson, where 
he died in 1814. 

William King, Jr.. married Thankful . They had: 

Lovice, b. December 22, 17G7. 

Elora, b. December 14. 1769. 

Lucy, b. March 18, 1775. 

Polly, b. November 23, 1776. 

William, b. September 26, 1778. 

Hepzibah. b. December 7. 1782. 

Thankful, b. September 20, 1788. 

Thomas King married Eunice Chaffee of Somers. Decemlier 18. 
1772. They had: 

Eunice, b. November 9, 1773. 

Thomas, b. .January 15, 1775. 

Luther King, married Abigail Ainsworth. October 13, 1781. 

THE LANGDON FAMILY. 

The ancestor of the Langdon family wa^s Phillip Langdon, a 
mariner, a native of Yorkshire, p]ng.. who settled in Boston. He 

married Mary . His children were: IMiillip, b. ; 

Susanna, b. October 23. 1677: John, August 22. 1682; James, August 
15, 1685: Samuel, December 22, 1687: Mary, March 24, 1690; Paul, 
September 12, 1693. 

Phillip Langdon died December 4. 1697. His wife died February 
14, 1717. 

Lieutenant Paul Langdon, b. September 12. 1693. He married 
Mary Stacy of Salem, August 17. 1718. He came to Wilbraham from 
Salem in 1741. He died December 3. 1761. His children were: 

Marv, b. August 20, 1719; Lewis, May 12, 1721; Hannah, February 
22, 1723; Paul, December 16, 1725; John, June 21, 1728; Elizabeth, 
July 1, 1730; Anna, September 24, 1732. 

Captain Paul Langdon, b. December 16. 1725, married Thankful 
Stebbins, May 5, 1757. He died June 23, 1804. His children were: 

Samuel, b. May 10, 1758, d. FeJimary 29, 1822; Thankful, July 4, 

1760, m. Burt; Paul, August 18, 1764; Lovice, November 13, 

1768, m. Joseph Wood of INIonson; Mary, October 12, 1770, m. Jacob 
Wood; Walter. June 22, 1779. 

John Langdon, b. January 21, 1728, married 1st, Sarah Stebbins, 



NOTES 



63 



February, 1755. She died July 22, 1755, aged twenty-one. One child, 
Sarah, b. July 12, 1755, m. Ebeuezer Crocker of Kinderhook, N. Y. 
Married 2d, Eunice Torrey of Mansfield, Conn., December 25, 1757. 
Their children were: John Wilson, b. March 11, 1759, m. Lucy 
Ashley; James, March 27, 1752, m. Esther Stebbins; .losiah, January 

13, 1765. m. Sally Hall; Joanna, June 21, 1767, m. Leonard, 

she died in Kentucky; Oliver, October 9, 1769, m. Catherine Bennett; 
Eunice, March 7, 1772, m. Asa Minitt; Solomon, July 19. 1773, m. 
Mary Butler; Artemas, May 25, d. October 2, 1760. 

THE MORRIS FAMILY. 

Edward Morris, the ancestor of this family, was born at Waltham 
Abbey, County of Essex. Bug., in 1630, and was brought to America 
probably before 1638. He is believed to have been the sou of Thomas 
^lorris, who died at Boston that year. 

Edward Morris married Grace Bett, November 20, 1655. He was 
for twelve years selectman of Roxbury, and for nine years repre- 
sented the towh in the General Court. On the abolition of the 
colonial government and the suspension of the House of Representa- 
tives in 1686, he led a number of the Roxbury people in the settle- 
ment of Woodstock. In 1689 he was chosen selectman of the town 
and also appointed lieutenant, and thus became the leading mllitai':^' 
authority of the town, and died at the close of the year. 

His son Edward, born in Roxbury in March, 1659, and was bap- 
tized by Rev. John Eliot. INIarch 13 of that year. He married Eliza- 
beth Bowen, May 24, 1683. After the death of his father he removed 
to Woodstock, where he died August 29, 1727. His wife survived him 
and died November 20, 1743. He was selectman of Woodstock for 
twenty-four years, and for twenty-two years deacon of the church. 
His son. Lieutenant Edward Morris, was born at Roxbury. Novem- 
ber 9, 1(^88. and was baptized by Rev. Nehemiah Walter. He mar- 
ried, JanuaiT 12, 1715, Bethiah Peake. He held various town offices 
and for nine years was selectman. He died August 12, 1769. 

His son, Isaac Morris, was born in Woodstock, Mai'ch 26, 1725. 
His intended marriage with Sarah Chaffee was published October 18. 
1748. She was born Januaiy 18, 1729, and was the only daiighter of 
Joseph and Hannah (May) Chaffee of Barrington, but at this time 
were residents of Woodstock. In 1761 Isaac ^Morris removed to Wil- 
braham (then Springfield) and settled in that part of the town then 
called " Wales," and near his father-in-law, Joseph Chaffee, who 
had preceded him some five or six years. His farm occupied what 
has been known as " Tray Hollow," on the road to Monson, which 
was laid out thi-ough his farm. While in Woodstock he held various 
parish offices. The records of the Woodstock church being lost, we 
have no date of his admission to the church. His wife joined the 
church in West Woodstock, April 30, 1750. He died January 10. 
1778, after a long illness. His wife, after a widowhood "of twenty- 
six years, married Hon. John Bliss, September 10, 1804. She sur- 
vived him and was a second time a widow. She died Api-il 27, 1818. 
aged eighty-nine. The children of Isaac and Sarah Morris wei-e: 

Hannah, b. January 13, 1750, in Woodstock. 

Darius, b. September 15, 1751, in Woodstock. 

Isaac, b. September 16, 1753, in Woodstock. 

Joseph, b. INIarch — , 1755, in Woodstock. 

Edward, b. December 12, 1756, in Woodstock. 

Elizabeth, b. July 10, 1759, in Woodstock; died at " Wales," March 
24, 1764. 



64 NOTES 

Sarah, b. July 20, 1761, in WocMlstock; m. Stephen Pease of Soniers. 

Eunice, b. May 13. 1763, in " Wales." 

Chester, b. Ai)ril 10, 1765, in " Wales." 

Ebenezer. b. Marcli !.">, 1767. in " Wales." 

Elizabeth, b. Februaiy 17. 1769. in "Wales." 

Ephraim. b. March 17, 1772, in " Wales." 

Hannah married John Davis. She died August 18, 1S2.5. Her 
childi-en were: Koxanna. mai-ried Richard Pirmin; Betsey, who also 
maiTied Richard Firmin; Joseph. John, Asa. Sally. 

Darius Morris married 1st, Elizabeth Fisher of East Haddam; 
married 2d. Rebecca Chandler of Woodstock. She died August 13. 
1835. aged seventy-eight. Children: 

By p]lizabetli: Sylvester, b. August 4, 1775; Asenath, b. August 
27, 1777. m. Henry Cady, removed to Butternuts. N. Y. 

By Rebecca: Betsey, b. August 13, 17S0, m. Dr. Isaac Wood; 
Joseph, b. February 27. 1782; Rebecca, b. January 21. 1784. m. Jesse 
Merwin; Darius, b. March 18. 1786, d. July 10. 1786; Fanny C. b. 
April 27. 1787. m. Elisha Bowen. Reading. Yt.: Syliuda. b. August 19. 
1789, m. Noah Merwin; Hannah, b. July 6. 1791. m. James Adams; 
Sarah, b. June 21, 1793, m. Increase Clapp. 

Isaac Morris married Irene Johnson of Stafford. He died June 2(). 
1805. His wife died INIay 14. 1842. Their children were: 

Polly, b. December 19. 1781. m. Roswell Davis of Stafford: Sally, 
b. 1787, married John Hitchcock of Monsou; Eunice, b. August 4, 
1786, m. Alban Comstock of Westfield; Isaac, b. April 8. 1792; Irene. 
May 19. 1793. m. Aruon Comstock of Westfield; Roxana. b. June 22. 
1795, m. Joel Hitchcock of Monson. 

Edward Morris, b. December 12. 1756, m. Lucv. daughter of Hon. 
John Bliss. He died April 29, 1801. She died April 15, 1836. Chil- 
dren : 

Oliver Bliss, b. September 22. 1782; Edward, b. .July 21. 1784; 
Isaac, b. August 2. 1786; John Bliss, b. July 15. 1789; Lucy, b. Feb- 
I'uary 23. 1791. m. Dr. D. Ufford; Abby Morris, b. March 10, 1793, m. 
Ralph R. Rollo. South Windsor. Conn.; Eliza, b. April 26. 1795. d. June 
17. 1802; Richard Darius, b. August 30. 1797: Lvdia, b. March 20. 1797. 
d. December 9. 1887; Edward Alonzo. b. March 14. 1801. d. 1858. 

Eunice Morris, b. May 13, 1763, m. .Joshua Clark of Windsor. Mass. 
They had ten children, all born in Windsor. 

Chester ]Moiris married Betsey Wales of Brimfield. He removed 
to Rochester, \t.. about 1800. and subsequently to Maloue, N. Y. 
They had twelve children. 

Ebenezer Mon-is married Ryndia May of Holland, Mass. He died 
there December 23. 1831. She was born October 7. 1769. and died 
February 1. 18-14. They had: Leonard M., b. January 10. 1790: 
Anna. b. Octolier 14, 1794, m. Augustus :Moore of Union; Laura, b. 
February 8. 1798. m. W. P. Sessions of l^niou. 

Elizabeth Morris married David Hume of Windsor. Mass.. Sep- 
tember 3. 1788. They had eleven children. 

Ephraim Morris married October 16, 1796. Pamela, daughter of 
Jesse Converse of Stafford. Conn. She was boni Februaiy 23. 1777. 
They had: Sylvester, b. September 23. 1797; Amanda, b. Septemlier 
20. i799; Edwai-d. b. September 15. 1801; Pamela, b. October 6. ISO.",, 
all born in Stafford; Jesse Converse, b. August 7. 1805. d. 180(;: Jesse 
Converse. ^Inrcli 7. 1807; :Mo11v Converse, November 27. 1809; Joseph 
Converse. February 24. 1812. d. 1813; Julia, b. March 14. 1814; Eliza, 
b. Dec-ember 24. 1816; Joseph, b. February. 1819. Tliese were all 
born in Vermont. He died at Bethel. Yt.. October 7. 1852. His wife 
died February 2. 1846. 



iXOTES 



65 



THE RUSSELL FAMILY. 

Ezekiel Russell was born in Reading in 1721. He married 
Tabitha, daughter of Ebenezer and Tabitba (Burnap) Flint of Read- 
ing. He removed first to Asbford. Conn., tbenee to Wilbrabam in 
1759. He died January 3, 1802. Mrs. Russell was born May 18, 1721, 
and died June 4, 1805. They bad tbe following children: 

Ezekiel, b. 1753, married 1st, Susan Hills, 2d, Hannah Meacham of 
Somers. 

Tabitha, b. 1755, married Nathan Stedman; by Hon. John Bliss. 

Robert, b. June 2, 1757, d. December 9, 1836; married Lydia Beebe. 

Benjamin, b. 1762, d. in the army in 1778. 

Asa, b. 1765, married Thankful Foot, and removed to western 
New York. 

SESSIONS FAMILY. 

Although the Sessions family had no connection with the church 
at the time of its organization, or at the ordination of Mr. Wan-en, 
it has been so strongly connected with its subsequent history that it 
cannot fail to be recognized. 

The emigrant ancestor of this family was Alexander Sessions, 
who came from Wantage in England as early as 1672, in which year 
he was married and settled in Andover, Mass. He had nine chil- 
dren, one of whom, Nathaniel, was born August 8, 1681. He settled 
in Pomfret, Conn., where he married, and died later in 1771, at the 
age of ninety-one. He was a farmer, and up to the age of eighty- 
eight had managed his affairs personally. At this age he became 
blind. After he was eighty he committed to memory the Psalms, 
the New Testament, and portions of the Old. He had seven sons, 
one of whom, Amasa, born about 1721, married Hannah Miller of 
Rehoboth, Mass. They had nine children. Of these Robert Sessions 
was born March 15, 1752, and died in Wilbrabam, September 27, 1836, 
at the age of eighty-four years and six months. He married .Anna 
Ruggles of Pomfret, April 16. 1778. She was descended from tbe 
Roxbury family of that name. She died November 22, 1838, aged 
eighty-two. At the time of the destruction of tea in Boston harbor, 
Mr. Sessions was living in Boston, and formed one of that celebrated 
" Tea Partv." He subsequently served in the army during the Revo- 
lution. He"^ came to Wilbrabam about 1782. He had the following 
children: 

Betsey, bom May 7, 1779, in Pomfret; married 1st, Levi Flynt. 
He died in 1828. and she married 2d, William Burt. She died in 1853. 

Charles, b. December 22, 1780, in Pomfret; married Clarissa 
Granger. They bad no children. , .. ,r ^ ,p 

Robert b. Feb. 2. 1783, in Wilbrabam; married Charlotte Metcalt. 
They had George M., Elizabeth, Oscar, Maria, Jesse, Joseph, and 

Horace. „ . ,, ^, ^^ rr^ ,i i 

George b December 16, 1784; married Eunice Mather of Tolland. 
Mass They had: Alexander H., Juliet, Milton, Horace, William. 
George Eunice, John Quincy. George Sessions died m Michigan 

Nancy, b. April 17, 1787; married Rodney Comstock; removed to 
Worthington, O. No children. „ ^ ^ ^ 

Celina b. August 6, 1789; married Cyrus Newell of Longmeadow. 
Thev had: Samuel. Nelson, Horace, and Charles. ^ ^ ^^ _ , , 

Francis, b. August 27. 1792; married Sophronia Metcalf They had 
one son, Francis Charles, b. FebruaiT 27, 1820. He lived at Colum- 
bus O He died in 1892, without children. 

Horned b. January 28, 1794. Graduated at Hamilton College, 
studied theology at Andover, became agent of the American Colouiza- 



66 



NOTES 



tion Society, went to Liberia witli one of tlie first colonies, and died 
at sea on his passage liome; unmarried. 

Martlia I'liipps, b. June 23, 179o; married John West, February 
12, ISIS. They had: John Kuggles, b. February 15, 1809; Martha 
Jane, b. February 14, 1S21, married S. C. Spellman. 

Robert Sessions, b. December 2S, 1823. Lived and died at 
Dubuque, la. 

Hannah Miller, b. January 6, 1797; married Chapin; no chil- 
dren. 

Sumner, b. December 29, 1797; married Mary Wood. They had: 
Mary, Harriet, Frances, and Edward Payson. 

William Vine, b. September 14, 1801; married Lydia Ames. He 
lived on the old homestead. His children were: Nancy, William R., 
b. December 3, 1835, and Lydia, who married Rev. Mr. Wood worth 
of Berlin, Conn. 

All of the children of Robert Sessions, with the exception of the 
two who Avere born in Pomfret, were baptized by Mr. Warren, and 
all became members of the church. 

STACY FAMILY. 

William Stacy came to Wilbraham from Salem. He was born in 
1716, and died March 9, 1800, aged eighty-four. He was probably 
a descendant of Henry Stacy of Salem, and son of William Stacy. 

He married 1st Mary , who died April 11, 1761. He had 

lived for some years at Greenwich, in New Jersey, where his three 
oldest children were born. His wife may have belonged to that 

vicinity. He married 2d, November 9, 1766, Anna , who was 

born in Warren, R. I., February 19, 1727, and who died December 19, 
1808. Children: 

Mary, b. May 11, 1744. 

William, b. February 8, 1746. 

Simeon, b. Januai-y 20, 1748. 

Sarah, b. March 8, 1750, in Springfield (Wilbraham). 

Ebenezer, b. October 1, 1752; married Marv Chaffee, January 10, 
1783. 

Elizabeth, b. October 29, 1755; died November 4, 1757. 

Richard, b. July 17, 1758; died March 20, 1759. 
By second wife: 

Mahlon, b. May 11, 1765. 

Anna, b. 1767. 

Ruby, b. June 9, 1769; died October 10, 1770. 

Gilbert, b. November 3, 1770. 

William Stacy, Jr., married Thankful . 

Chauncey, b. August 16, 1770. 

Zorah, b. February 13, 1772. 

Jemima, b. Nov. 9, 1773. 

THE STEBBINS FAMILY. 

The genealogy of the Stebbins family may be found in the volume 
which contains the historical address of Di*. Rufus P. Stebbins, given 
at the centennial of the town of Wilbraham in 1863. 

Of the members of tlie family connected with the church in the 
South I'arish, Aaron Stebbins married Mai-y Wood, October 18, 1744. 
Their children were: Mary, b. June 10, 1748; Aaron, March 20, 1750; 

James, December 31, 1751, d. ; Seth, September 6, 1754; 

Martlia, February 15, 1757, d. , ; James, October 6, 1760. 

This family removed to Vermont. 



NOTES 67 

Moses Stebbins married Dorcas Hale, January 29, 1749. Their 
cliildren were: Moses, b. May 3, 1750; Calvin. July 30, 1751; Esther, 
January 26, 1755: Ambrose, October 17, 1750; Dorcas, February 17, 

1759, d. , ; David, February 29, 1760; Timothy, April 17. 1762; 

Dorcas, August 2, 1765; Chester, January 23. 1769; Thankful, ]March 
21, 1773. 

Noah Stebbins married Margaret Stebbins, May 22, 1765. Their 
children Avere: Noah, b. Febniary 12, 1766; Azariah, October 27, 
1767; Margaret, May 5, 1769; Elijah. January 14, 1772; Luther, 
October 25, 1773; Mai-y, December 8, 1775; Luther, June 12, 1777; 
John, August 13, 1779; Cbarity, November 23, 1781; Persis, Septem- 
ber 23, 1784. 

Eldad Stebbins married Ann Badger, April 11, 1765. Their chil- 
dren were: Ann. h. February 4. 1764; Bina, August 11, 1765; Eldad. 
June 13, 1767, d. , ; Gilbert, March 11, 1769; Luther and Cal- 
vin, March 2, 1771, d. , ; Lovice, March 7, 1762, d. , ; 

Eldad, April 4. 1774; Luther, September 29, 1776; Calvin, March 5, 
1778; Alpheus, July 28, 1780; Lovice, December 7, 1782. 

Zadok Stebbins married Elizabeth Pease, November 14, 1764. 
Their children: Zadok, b. April 2, 1765; Augusta, March 28, 1767; 
John, September 15, 1769; Flavia, November 30, 1771; Chauncey, 
August 13, 1774; Abigail, August 14, 1776. 

Moses Stebbins, Jun., married Hannah Hale, 1776. Their chil- 
dren were: Clarissa, Warren, Asenath, Hannah, Milo, David. 
Dorcas, Flavel. 

THE WEST FAMILY. 

Francis West, the ancestor of this family, came from Salisbury, 
Eng., and settled in Duxbui-y. He married Margeiy Russ, February 
27, 1639. He was a carpenter by occupation, and died January 2, 
1692, leaving a small estate. From him the Wilbraham Wests are 
descended in the following line: Samuel, who married Triphosa 
Partridge, September 26, 1668. He died May 8, 1689, aged forty-six. 
His wife died November 1, 1701. 

John West, born March 6, 1679, settled in Lebanon, Conn. He 
married Deborah , who died November 17, 1741. 

Solomon West, born March 15, 1723, in Lebanon. He man-ied 
Abigail Strong. October 10, 1743, and removed to Tolland. He died 
August 21, 1790, aged forty-eight. Mrs. West died August 12, 1807, 
aged sixty-seven. 

Stephen West, born in Tolland. August 19, 1759. Removed to 
Wilbraham, where he married Bathsheba Chaffee, daughter of Com- 
fort ChafCee, November 27, 1783. He died April 17, 1814. Mrs. West 
died at Tolland, Conn., April 22, 1851, aged eighty-nine. Mr. West 
was treasurer of the parish in 1793, and succeeded John Hitchcock 
as deacon. He had the following children: 

Stephen Strong, b. September 22, 1784. 

Bathsheba, b. August 24, 1786. 

Solomon, b. August 10. 1788. d. June 10, 1790. 

Solomon, b. February 19, 1791, d. December 24. 1793. 

John, b. October 1. 1793, d. July 12, 1826. 

Ralph, b. May 6, 1796, d. March 9, 1801. 

Solomon Ralph, b. April 8, 1801, d. December 23, 1803. 

A son bom December 23, 1803. died the same day. 

Stephen Strong West married Lucinda Humeston, April 27, 1809. 
They had: 

Lucinda Humeston, b. October 29, 1809. 

Strong, b. August 5, 1811, d. August 19, 1880. 

Solomon, b. June 15, 1813, d. April 17, 1815. 



68 NOTES 

Auua H., I). February <>. 181<i, d. November G, 1889. 

Stephen Otis, b. May 21. 1818. d. June 1, 1890. 

Georjje Spencer, b. January 23. 1822. d. December 14, 189(5. 

Solomon, b. February 4. 1824, d. March 30. 1873. 

John. b. September C. 1828. 

Nancy Flyut, b. April 1, 1833. 

Joel, b. November 13. 1835, d. March 23. 1897. at I.o.>^ Anselos. Cal. 

WILLIAMS FA:MILy. 

John Williams was a descendant of Robert Williams. Avho settled 
at Roxbury in 1M37. His sou Samuel mariied Theoda Parke, daugh- 
ter of William I'arke. Roxbury, 1G31. Their son. Rev. John Williams, 
was the noted Indian captive, taken at the burninj?- of Deertield. 
His son. Rev. Stephen Williams, born :*Iay 14. 1693, died June 10. 
1782. He was settled minister at Lonsmeadow in 1710; married 
in 1718 Abigail, daughter of Rev. John Davenport of Stamford. 
Conn., and had eight children, of which John AVilliams. b. March 8. 
1720. married January 22, 1747, Ann Colton. His father was a large 
land-owner in the south part of Wilbraham, a part of which he im- 
proved, and on which John Williams settled. This was on the middle 
road and near the line of Somers. They had the following children: 
Stephen, b. November 8, 1747. d. 1750; Ann. b. September 8. 1750. d. 
1704; Abigail, b. :May 18, 1751. d. 1779; Maiy, b. March 28, 1753, m. 
Noah Chapin; Stephen, b. July 28, 1755; Sarah, b. October 19, 1757. d. 
1758; John, b. April 22, 1761; Elizur, b. April 15. 1704. 

Ann Williams, the mother, died November 23, 1771. The father 
was afterwards twice married, without more children. He died in 
April, 1791. His son. John Williams, was the person so long in con- 
troversy with the church. This whole family disappeared from the 
town. 

WALES. 

A gore of land lying to the northwest of Somers and southeast of 
Springfield, one mile in width at its eastern end and somewhat less 
at its western end, now comprises the extreme southern part of 
Hampden. Although within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, it 
was not for some years included within the limits of any town and 
was known as the " District of Wales." At just what time this ter- 
ritory began to be settled it is difficult to state. Grants of laud in this 
section were made by the General Court, early in the last centui'y. 
In July, 1728, two hundred acres were granted to Captain Thomas 
Colton of Springfield (Longmeadow). This land was laid out De- 
cember 19, 1734, to Rev. Stephen Williams and Captain Isaac Colton. 
and is described as " ye land lying and being in yt Gore of Province 
Land in ye county of Hampshire yt is between Springfield on ye 
North and ye Colony or Patent line on ye South, Brimfield on ye east 
and Somers on ye west, in ye S. E. corner of sd land." ;May 22. 1735. 
two hundred acres were laid out to Nathaniel Collins. Dec-ember 9. 
1742, two hundred acres were laid out to Stephen Williams. Feb- 
ruary 17, 1744, one hundi-ed and ninety-one acres were laid out to 
Ebenezer Jones, and subsequently more land was laid out to Stephen 
Williams. Jones is supposed to have settled on his grant, but after- 
wards conveyed it to leter Tufts, whose heirs. Moses Tufts and 
others of Ashford, sold to Joseph Chaffee of Woodstock. December 0. 
1751, who. on September 20, 1754, bought one hundred and fifty acres 
of Mr. Williams, and again on January 13, 1756. bouglit of liim one 
hundred and fifty-five acres more, making all his holding about five 



NOTES 



69 



hundred acres. He built his house on the spot since occupied by the 
Firmin family east of Pine Mountain. Henry Badger, from Union, 
settled near him, and these are supposed to have been among the 
earliest settlers in this section, the Skinners. Carpenters, and other 
families following. John Williams, son of Rev. Stephen Williams, 
settled in the central part of the tract, at the western foot of Bald 
Mountain, near the line of Somers. As the years rolled on and the 
population increased, the inhabitants were anxious for town 
privileges, and desired to be annexed to Wilbraham. At a town 
meeting held March 17, 1772, it was voted that the petition of Mr. 
John Williams and others requesting to be joined to and incorporated 
with Wilbraham be accepted with this restriction, viz., that the 
whole gore of laud with the present Freeholders adjoining to Wil- 
braham from East to West the whole width of Wilbraham be an- 
nexed agreeable to said request exclusive of all others. 



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